Avalanche Reassign Kaut And Megna

It appears that this round of callups for Martin Kaut and Jayson Megna may be a short one. After three games, the Colorado Avalanche reassigned Kaut and Megna to the Colorado Eagles in Loveland today.

There have been issues with Kaut in the last couple of years. Last year in training camp he was looking like he was going to make the team when he caught an edge and fell into the boards. This led to a shoulder injury that he has admitted still bugs him to this day. This year in training camp, he came into it knowing that this could be his last chance to make it at the NHL level.  We heard him saying during an interview, “Hopefully I am going to finally make the team. If not, shit happens.”

When Kaut got the call this year, he was immediately thrown into the mix with the game against the Winnipeg Jets. He jumped from the top line with the Eagles to the second line on the Avalanche. The Jets game was where Kaut was tested the most. He played just over eleven minutes of ice time in 15 shifts. After that his ice time was dramatically reduced, playing roughly half the amount of ice time in each of the next two games. During the game against the Seattle Kraken he was demoted to the fourth line. Eventually he did not play a single shift in the third period. There were issues with him turning over the puck and keeping up with the rest of the team. Typically he would stop skating once he was out of the offensive zone and never backcheck.

Jayson Megna has been a reliable callup for the Avalanche over the last couple of years. Megna played 20 games for the Avalanche last season. He was also part of the Black Aces that traveled with the team during the Stanley Cup run. This year, Megna has kind of been in the same boat as Kaut with a good camp and ice time dramatically reduced. Megna has not been as noticeable, simply because he has been on the fourth line the whole time he has been up.

This may be the end for Martin Kaut. Coach Jared Bednar was saying that he liked what he saw from him, but the ice time tells us otherwise. This also could be a huge overreaction and they could both be back with the team tomorrow. Either way, the rope for Kaut is extremally short right now and he knows it. He has to make a positive impact while he up with the Avalanche and yet to do so.