Kraken star faces career-shattering blow after Avalanche veteran Brent Burns drama

The Avalanche and Kraken game from earlier this week took a sharp turn when Brent Burns and Brandon Montour dropped the gloves, a moment that felt routine until it clearly was not. Montour left the ice favoring his hand and never returned.

The next day, Seattle confirmed Montour required hand surgery and will miss roughly four weeks, turning a single scrap into a lingering storyline that now stretches well past the final horn. For Colorado, it was another reminder that emotion cuts both ways.

Ryan O'Hara from The Hockey News writes that Burns, 39, was being Burns, physical, loud, and involved, while Montour answered the challenge in a game that had already tilted toward post-whistle nastiness. Fights happen, but this one came with real fallout.

This is where the fan in me pauses, because most nights that scrap is just a clip on social media, not a turning point that changes a rival's blue line for a month.

Montour, 31, had six goals and ten assists in 27 games, logging heavy minutes and quarterbacking key power play looks for Seattle. Losing him strips speed and puck movement from a Kraken defense already searching for consistency.

From the Avalanche perspective, there is no victory lap here. Colorado won the game, but the league always circles these moments, especially when a veteran like Burns is involved and an injury follows.

Tactically, Montour's absence matters when Colorado sees Seattle again. He was their clean exit guy, the defenseman who could skate pucks past pressure and limit forecheck time for lines like Nathan MacKinnon's.

Colorado thrives when opponents struggle to break out cleanly. Without Montour, the Kraken will lean more on simpler clears, which feeds directly into the Avalanche's reload-and-attack rhythm.

For Seattle, the timing stings. For Colorado, the result still stands, but the aftertaste is complicated, especially knowing how thin margins already are in the West.

Hockey seasons are long, memories are longer, and this is one of those moments that players do not forget when the schedule loops back around.