Finally, after three seasons, we might have discovered a part of hockey that Cale Makar can’t absolutely dominate.
It was the beginning of the second round of the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs. In comparison to some of his Colorado Avalanche teammates, Makar was practically fresh-faced: a reedy mustache, unconnected to some postseason scruff framing his jawline under cheeks that are in a near-constant state of blush.
“Have you given up on a playoff beard?” a reporter asked the 23-year-old defenseman.
To be asked if one has given up on a beard while actively attempting to grow one spoke volumes about a lack of follicle volume. But Makar, undaunted and impressively optimistic, responded: “I’m just going to let it go and see where it takes us.”
In that sense, Cale Makar’s beard captures the essence of Cale Makar the player: Just let him go and see what happens. Teammates and opponents alike have witnessed his incomparable speed on the back end, combined with offensive prowess that leaves them all guessing what he’s going to do next.
“You never know what to expect,” one NHL veteran said. “You can prescout him. A lot of guys have tendencies. But you don’t know what you’re getting with Makar. He’s so quick-moving, especially side-to-side.”
Another NHL veteran who has taken on Makar added: “You never know what he’s going to be that night. He could shimmy me, spin-o-rama me or he can fire it right through me. There are just so many ways that he can attack you.”
Former Norris Trophy winner P.K. Subban can’t help but be in awe.
“I’ve got a man crush on Makar,” said Subban, who played last season with the New Jersey Devils. “With how he moves out there. His hockey IQ? Through the roof. His shot? Really good. But it’s his skating ability that’s separates him from everyone else.”
Makar is the favorite to win the Norris Trophy after finishing second to Adam Fox of the New York Rangers in 2020-21. Both are great young defensemen, worthy of their accolades. But ask around the NHL and it’s clear that while Fox is outstanding, Makar is something different. Something generational.
“I wouldn’t rate Adam Fox as an unstoppable defenseman,” one NHL veteran said. “He’s not super dynamic. He’s just really smart and makes the right plays around him. But with Makar, he can get the puck and do it all entirely himself.
“Makar is a game-breaker. He’s an unstoppable defenseman.”
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 crop up out of the AJHL” and wrote that “Makar’s potential is that of a traditional franchise defender that can do it all.”
He was recruited early by UMass, as assistant coach Joey Gasparini scouted Makar playing midget hockey for the Calgary Flames AAA program, before his stint with the Brooks Bandits in the AJHL. According to the Grand Forks Herald, Gasparini had a good working relationship with the Bandits’ head coach, which helped UMass get even more entrenched. Makar committed to UMass in August 2015, tweeting “I am excited to announce my commitment to UMass Amherst!”
Makar was drafted by the Avalanche at No. 4 overall in 2017, a lofty position for an NCAA player. When he was selected, the Sportsnet broadcast said that Makar was “offense, offense, offense … and then maybe he looks back at his blue line and then more offense,” peddling a stereotype of the “one-dimensional” offensive defenseman.
Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said that Makar’s decision to stay at UMass for a second season, rather than leaping right to the NHL in 2017-18, made him a better player and person.
“I think it helped him immensely. I like the maturity in him to say, ‘I think I could help now,’ but then deciding to stay. I think he had a great year in his first year,” Bednar said. “A good motto is ‘go dominate the level that you’re at before you move to the next one.’ I think Cale was probably brought up that way, knowing the character of his family, and I think he’s emulated that through his whole career.”
Makar helped lead a revival of the program. UMass won its first Hockey East regular-season title in 2019-20, the same season he won the Hobey Baker Award as the NCAA’s top men’s player, and helped bring the Minutemen to the NCAA championship, where they lost in the final to Minnesota Duluth.
“I’ve been a coach at this level for seven years now and he’s far and away the best player I’ve seen on the ice at this level,” UMass’ Greg Carvel told ESPN in 2019. “If you’re around people who are performing at a high level, it inspires you to do the same. What Cale does on the ice during games and in practice, it inspires me to coach better.”
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 game-winning goal against the Flames in Game 3 of their series.
“I heard him calling for [the puck] in his first game ever,” said Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon. “He’s yelling ‘three, three, three,’ at me. That’s great, you want a player to be aggressive and assertive, and I was really impressed by that.”
Makar finished his first postseason with six points in 10 games. His first NHL season was 2019-20, and he had 50 points in 57 games, won the Calder Trophy and finished ninth for the Norris. His second campaign was a point-per-game season — 44 points in 44 games in 2020-21 — and he eclipsed that pace in 2021-22, as offense in the NHL soared to its highest level since the mid-1990s. Makar had 86 points in 77 games, trailing only Nashville Predators defenseman Roman Josi, who had an astonishing 96 points in 80 games.
“I looked up to him a lot growing up, and even during the season, too,” Makar said of Josi.
Makar and Josi met in the first round of the playoffs this year. Colorado swept Nashville. Josi had two points in four games. Makar had 10 points in four games, which were the most in league history by a defenseman through four games in any playoff year, according to the NHL.
Advantage: Makar.
“He might be the best player in the league right now,” MacKinnon said after the sweep, before upping the ante considerably.
“He might be one of the best [defensemen] to ever play by the end of his career, at this rate.”
What makes Makar better than other defensemen — now or in the past — is his skating.
“He does everything really, really well. But his skating separates him from everyone else. And I’m not talking about skating fast. I’m talking about skating effortlessly,” Subban said. “He’s explosive. His mobility, his deceptiveness … he’s in the category with Connor McDavid in terms of skating. He can do it all. He’s a special player and will be a special player for a long time.”
That skating manifests as Makar’s raw speed in end-to-end rushes. It’s also the reason Makar can make a crowd gasp by simply moving the puck, whether it’s a small deke to move around a forechecker on a zone exit or walking the blue-line tightrope on the power play.
“He’s incredible. With the puck. Without the puck. He just skates so well,” one NHL veteran said.
Tactically, his skating allows him to create offensive separation from opposing players. “He’s clearly the No. 1 offensive defensemen in the game in finding open space,” an NHL analyst said.
But his speed also is an asset defensively. Remember that draft assessment of Makar? “Offense, offense, offense?” The default assessment of offensive defensemen is that they ignore the defensive end of the ice. Erik Karlsson, who might have been the last game-breaking defenseman before Makar, was frequently maligned for his defensive ability.
Not so with Makar.
“Makar has never been below replacement defensively,” one NHL analyst noted. “With high-caliber offensive defensemen 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 him so special is his ability to use the skating ability defensively to close gap time and space for opponents, and take the puck away. The controlled aggressiveness and attacking mindset he plays with offensively has become an aspect of the way he defends.”
It’s undeniable that Makar benefits from an elite defensive partnership with Devon Toews. They played over 830 minutes together this season at 5-on-5, earning 59% of the shot attempts and 58% of the expected goals.
“I feel like he just does everything well,” Makar said of Toews. “It always feels like if one of us is up, the other one is back. It’s finding different ways to expose their forecheck, especially in the neutral zone. We just work well together.”
But typically, it’s Toews hanging back so Makar can go, which is one of the reasons why Makar had the second-most even-strength points among defensemen this season — and one of the reasons why he’s a Norris finalist again.
“As long as I can help the team and contribute, it’s not about those individual accolades,” Makar said.
It’s the kind of sentiment Bednar loves to hear from his star defenseman.
“It’s a deep desire to win and to help our team win and be the best that he can possibly be,” he said. “He’s high character, obviously. A great leader. Wants to be a difference-maker every time he puts his skates on. That’s how he goes about his business.”
It’s Year 3 for Makar in the NHL. It’s exhilarating to think about how the careers of these generational players will play out — Makar, McDavid, Auston Matthews. Like MacKinnon said, Makar might end up being one of the best of all time.
Unless, of course, the rest of the NHL figures out how to stop the unstoppable.
“Eventually, guys are going to get a bit of a book on him, you’d think. Especially in the playoffs, where it’s so focused and intense,” one NHL veteran said. “But so far, he’s been a hell of a player.”