Finally, after three seasons, we could have discovered a part of hockey that Cale Makar can’t master at all.
It was the start of the second round of the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs. which framed his jaw under his cheeks which are in an almost constant state of flushing.
“Have you given up a playoff beard?” asked a 23-year-old defense journalist.
Wondering if he had given up his beard while trying to actively grow it, talked a lot about the lack of volume of the follicles. But Makar, impertinent and impressively optimistic, replied, “I’ll just let it go and see where it takes us.”
In this sense, Cale Makar’s beard captures the essence of Cale Makar the player: just let him go and see what happens. Both his teammates and opponents have witnessed his unparalleled speed behind him, combined with an offensive skill that leaves them all guessing what he will do next.
“You never know what to expect,” said an NHL veteran. “You can look for it beforehand. A lot of guys have trends. But you don’t know what you’re getting with Makar. It moves really fast, especially from side to side.”
Another NHL veteran who has faced Makar added: “You never know what that night will be like. It could make me fall, turn around or shoot me through me. There are so many ways to do that. he can attack you “.
Former Norris Trophy winner PK Subban can’t help but marvel.
“I have a man in love with Makar,” said Subban, who played for the New Jersey Devils last season. “With how he moves out there. His hockey IQ? By the ceiling. His shot? Very good. But it’s his skating ability that sets him apart from everyone else.”
Makar is the favorite to win the Norris Trophy after finishing second behind Adam Fox of the New York Rangers in 2020-21. Both are great young defenders, worthy of their praise. But ask about the NHL and it’s clear that while Fox is exceptional, Makar is something different. Something generational.
“I wouldn’t call Adam Fox an unstoppable defender,” said an NHL veteran. “He’s not super dynamic. He’s very smart and he makes the right plays around him. But with Makar, he can grab the record and do it all himself.
“Makar is a breaker. He is an unstoppable defender.”
Makar was born in Calgary, Alberta, where he grew up playing youth hockey before eventually joining the Alberta Junior Hockey League. In 2017, Elite Prospects called him “one of the purest talents to ever emerge from the AJHL” and wrote that “Makar’s potential is that of an advocate of the traditional franchise that can do anything.”
He was recruited early by UMass as assistant coach Joey Gasparini explored Makar playing midget hockey for the Calgary Flames AAA program, before his time with the Brooks Bandits at the AJHL. According to the Grand Forks Herald, Gasparini had a good working relationship with the head coach of the Bandits, which helped make UMass crawl even further. Makar committed to UMass in August 2015, tweeting “I’m excited to announce my engagement to UMass Amherst!”
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Makar was selected by the Avalanche at No. 4 overall in 2017, a high position for an NCAA player. When he was selected, the Sportsnet broadcast said that Makar was “offensive, offensive, offensive … and then maybe look back on his blue line and then more offensive,” coming up with a “one-dimensional” offensive defense stereotype.
Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said Makar’s decision to stay at UMass for a second season, instead of jumping straight to the 2017-18 NHL, made him a better player and person.
“I think it helped him immensely. I like the maturity in him to say, ‘I think he could help now,’ but then he decided to stay. I think he had a great year in his first year,” Bednar said. . “A good motto is‘ go master the level you are in before moving on to the next one. ’I think Cale was probably educated that way, knowing the character of his family, and I think he’s imitated it all along. his career “.
Makar helped lead a revival of the program. UMass won its first regular-season title in the 2019-20 hockey season, the same season it won the Hobey Baker Award for Best NCAA Male Player and helped bring the Minutemen to the NCAA Championship. , where they lost in the final to Minnesota Duluth. .
“I’ve been coaching at this level for seven years and he’s by far the best player I’ve seen on the ice at this level,” Greg Carvel of UMass told ESPN in 2019. “If you’re around people. they are performing at a high level, it inspires you to do the same. What Cale does on the ice during matches and in training, inspires me to train better. “
Those who saw Makar in his last campaign with UMass knew that great things awaited him at the NHL level. Gregory Fisher / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Makar’s NHL debut was memorable, parachuting into the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs three days after winning the Hobey Baker. He scored what would be the winning goal against the Flames in Game 3 of his series.
“I heard him shout [the puck] in his first game, “Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon said.” He calls me ‘three, three, three.’ That’s great, you want a player to be aggressive and assertive, and that impressed me a lot. “
Makar finished his first postseason with six points in 10 games. His first season in the NHL was 2019-20, accumulating 50 points in 57 games, winning the Calder Trophy and finishing ninth for the Norris. His second campaign was a points-per-game season – 44 points in 44 games in 2020-21 – and he overshadowed that pace in 2021-22 as the NHL attack rose to its highest level since mid nineties. Makar accumulated 86 points in 77 games, just behind Nashville Predators defender Roman Josi, who had a staggering 96 points in 80 games.
“I admired him a lot as a kid, and even during the season,” Makar said of Josi.
Makar and Josi faced off in the first round of this year’s playoffs. Colorado swept Nashville. Josi had two points in four games. Makar racked up 10 points in four games, which were the most in league history for a four-game defense in any playoff year, according to the NHL.
Advantage: Makar.
“He may be the best player in the league right now,” MacKinnon said after the sweep, before significantly increasing the game.
“He may be one of the best [defensemen] never play at the end of his career, at this rate. “
What makes Makar better than other defenses, now or in the past, is his skating.
“He does everything very, very well. But his skating sets him apart from everyone else. And I’m not talking about fast skating. I’m talking about effortless skating,” Subban said. “He’s explosive. His mobility, his deception.
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This skating is manifested as Makar’s gross speed in end-to-end races. It is also the reason why Makar can blow a crowd by simply moving the puck, either a small deke to move through a forechecker at the exit of an area or walking on the loose rope of the blue line in the power play. .
“It’s amazing. With the record. Without the record. It just skates so well,” said an NHL veteran.
Tactically, his skating allows him to create an offensive separation from opposing players. “He’s clearly the No. 1 offensive lineman in the game when it comes to finding open spaces,” said an NHL analyst.
But his speed is also an asset defensively. Remember that draft evaluation of Makar? “Offense, offense, offense?” The default assessment of offensive defenders is that they ignore the defensive end of the ice. Erik Karlsson, who could have been the last defender to break the deadlock before Makar, was often criticized for his defensive ability.
Not so with Makar.
“Makar has never been below the defensive line,” said an NHL analyst. “With high-caliber offensive defenders like Brent Burns or Morgan Rielly, they almost always give up something on defense to generate their offense. Makar doesn’t do that at all.”
Another analyst added: “What makes it so special is its ability to use the ability to skate defensively to close time and space between opponents, and pull out the puck. Controlled aggression and the attacking mentality with which he plays offensively has become an aspect of the game.
Devon Toews, left, and Makar work well together as a complementary tandem. Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images
It is undeniable that Makar benefits from an elite defensive partnership with Devon Toews. They played more than 830 minutes together this season at 5 to 5, winning 59% of shooting attempts and 58% of expected goals.
“I feel like he’s doing everything right,” Makar told Toews. “It always feels like if one of us is up, the other is back. It’s finding different ways to expose their pre-control, especially in the neutral zone. We just work well together.”
But it’s usually Toews who gets tangled up so Makar can leave, which is one of the reasons why Makar had the second most evenly matched strengths among defenders this season, and one of the reasons why he’s back. Norris finalist.
“As long as you can help the team and contribute, it’s not about those individual recognitions,” Makar said.
It’s the kind of feeling he likes to hear from his star defense at Bednar.
“It’s a deep desire to win and help our team win and be the best it can be,” he said. “He’s great, obviously. A great leader. He wants to make a difference every time he puts on his skates. That’s how he does his business.”
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