A Healthy Josh Manson Ready To Make A Difference For Avalanche In Playoffs (+)

The Colorado Avalanche really missed Josh Manson in the playoffs last season.

Well, technically he was there, but that wasn’t the Manson everyone was used to seeing.

“I wasn’t 100% even going in when I came back,” Manson told Colorado Hockey Now this morning ahead of Game One.

Not that that’s a huge surprise. Anyone who watched the games could tell.

Manson worked hard towards the end of the season last year just give it a shot when the playoffs rolled around. He gave it the old college try, but he clearly wasn’t himself, and halfway through Game Five, he shut it down. The injury didn’t allow him to play his style of hockey, and his skating wasn’t at the level it needed to be. Whenever the Kraken would dump the puck in, you could tell that Manson was struggling to transition back to get the puck.

That’s not the case this season. He’s healthy, and his team believes he can make an impact.

“Huge difference,” Jared Bednar said when asked what kind of impact a healthy Manson can make in the postseason. “Great year for us. Physical in all the defending areas, highly involved on the offensive side of it, had a career year, his best offensive year in quite some time. I like the year Josh has had and I think he can make a big impact in the series.”

You don’t necessarily count on Manson for offense, but the system the Avalanche plays allows all their defensemen to get involved. Manson is no different. He scored a career high eight goals and always catches you off-guard when he jumps into the play, because he has a lot more skill than you’d think.

A big reason why he was able to set a new career high in goals is because he was able to stay healthy. Manson spent most of training camp recovering from the injury that bothered him all last season, but once the games started, he was there, playing 76 games. That’s the most he’s played in a season since 2017.

Manson was a difference maker during the 2022 Stanley Cup run. He wasn’t able to do that last season coming off an injury, but feels significantly better heading into the playoffs this year.

“I just feel like I got my feet underneath me a bit more,” he told me. “It’s tough to go into the playoffs, things ramp up, and if you haven’t played games in a while, that speed can be a little daunting. The way I feel now, it feels a lot better. I’m excited to hopefully contribute a little bit more.”

His teammates are happy to have him available for this run.

“I’m thrilled that he’s healthy,” Jack Johnson said on Sunday. “(He’s) a big part of our success, and we’re going to need him.”

The city of Winnipeg is used to seeing a tough defenseman in their town with the last name of Manson. Josh’s dad, Dave, played a few seasons here in the early 90’s when Josh was extremely young. He doesn’t remember much about that time because of how young he was, but he was a popular guy in the locker room this morning with the Winnipeg media today.

“I know my dad has fond memories here, but to me, it’s just another city,” Manson said.

If things go the way the Avalanche hope they do, the city of Winnipeg won’t have very fond memories of Josh in a few weeks.