How valuable is Makar to the Avalanche? Colorado was steamrolling its way through the playoffs last season before Makar missed the first two games of the Western Conference Final (both losses) against the Vegas Golden Knights. He returned for the final two games of the series but not at full strength and Colorado was swept.
“Cale plays 30 minutes a night and everybody is slotted behind him,” Sakic said. “To miss him on the ice for those two games, you’re in the conference final against a really good team, and you need your stars to be on the ice for you and you need them to play well. That definitely hurt. It was a big reason why we were 0-2 and a big reason why we lost the series.”
A healthy Makar is bad news for the rest of the League. He chips in with offense and defense, plays on both special teams and is as dependable as they come. He’s averaged more than a point per game (1.08) in his career with 510 in 472 games. That trails only Bobby Orr (1.39) and Paul Coffey (1.09) among defensemen to play at least 200 NHL games.
“We’ll never find him ever again,” Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon said. “I think he’s the best D-man of all time and he’s going to play his whole career here which is awesome.”
Of course, Makar refused to take individual credit for any of his accolades, instead mentioning his teammates.
“Obviously a lot of that is individual awards, and a lot of guys say this and I keep reiterating it, but the way our team plays and the success we have those team awards come with all that,” Makar said after signing his contract.
And a scary thought for the rest of the League? Makar said his new contract could unleash even more from him.
“Internally on myself, I feel like I’m a guy that just puts a lot of pressure on myself to do well year in, year out,” he said. “No doubt outside pressure this could add things, but at the same time, it’s kind of all in my head. … I think (the contract) is going to make me even hopefully push myself even a little bit more.”
