2020 Ain’t Over Yet: Avs prospect Alex Newhook hurt *UPDATED

Until the clock strikes midnight, it’s still the miserable year of 2020, so one more bad thing just had to happen, involving the Avalanche: 2019 first-round pick Alex Newhook was hurt tonight against Finland in a World Junior game in Edmonton.

It looked like a shoulder injury, but we’ll wait for something more official to come from Team Canada. UPDATE: Canada coach Andre Tourigny said just now that Newhook is only day-to-day with the injury, and could play Saturday even.

This doesn’t affect the Avalanche materially for the 2021 season. Newhook was going to go back to Boston College to play his sophomore year after the World Juniors, and it while he technically could sign a deal with Colorado and turn pro in the playoffs – a la Cale Makar – that almost certainly was never going to happen.

So, in that sense, this wasn’t a horrible New Year’s Eve for Avs fans, but obviously it stinks that the talented 19-year-old – projected to be a second-line center, at worst, with Colorado – had to leave tonight’s game in the first period.

Worry about a separated shoulder for Alex Newhook. Typical timeline is 10-14 days for low grade injuries

Best case scenario is that he returns to play with support for his shoulder and some pain control like Hayton last year

Also possible is a broken collarbone

— Dr. Harjas Grewal (@Harjas_Grewal) January 1, 2021

He’ll recover from this and be OK. Connor McDavid broke a collarbone too, let’s not forget. I believe, if memory serves, that’s the most commonly broken bone in the human body.

You never like to see a kid like Newhook hurt so early in his career, and shoulders/collarbones can be problematic with reinjury chances getting slightly higher the more they are damaged. But let’s hope for the best here.