Cale Makar
D #8 Colorado Avalanche Trade value: 10/10

Cale Makar

Born Oct 30, 1998
Birthplace Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Nationality Canada
Height 5'11"
Weight 187 lbs
Shoots R
Draft 2017 Round 1, Pick 4 - COL

Contract

AAV $9.00M
Cap Hit $9.00M
Term 2021 – 2027
Clauses None confirmed
Status Signed

Scouting Report

Skating10/10
Shooting8/10
Hockey IQ10/10
Physicality5/10
Defense7/10

✓ Strengths

Skating — The Best Edges in Professional Hockey Makar's skating isn't just fast — it's architecturally different from every other defenceman in the NHL. His edgework allows him to change direction at full speed without losing momentum, which is something you can't teach and most players can't replicate even in a practice drill. He reaches top speed in 3-4 crossovers while most NHL defencemen need 5-6. His lateral mobility turns 1-on-1 battles into mismatches because he can mirror a forward's first move and still recover to block the shooting lane. The Bobby Orr comparisons start and end with the skating — it's not hyperbole, it's physics. Offensive Production That Defies the Position At 1.08 career points per game, Makar is tied with Paul Coffey for the second-highest rate among all defencemen in NHL history (minimum 200 games), trailing only Bobby Orr's 1.39. He's scored 136 goals in 468 games, hit 30 goals in 2024-25, and has posted a career shooting percentage of 10.4% across 1,308 shots — a sustainable rate that proves the scoring is skill, not variance. He reached 200 career points in 195 games, shattering Sergei Zubov's previous record of 207 games. Transition Game — The One-Man Zone Exit What separates Makar from other offensive defencemen is his ability to retrieve the puck behind his own net and, in a single sequence, turn it into a grade-A scoring chance at the other end. He doesn't need a breakout pass from a centre. He doesn't need a stretch pass to spring a forward. He carries it himself, through traffic, at speed, and the opposing forecheck simply cannot contain it. His 5v5 expected goals-for percentage of 55.9% alongside Devon Toews in 2024-25 reflects how comprehensively he tilts the ice when he's on it. Power Play Quarterback With a Shot That Scores Forty-five career power-play goals — including 12 in 2024-25 alone — from a defenceman who can operate from the point, half-wall, or bumper position with equal effectiveness. Makar doesn't just set up goals from the blue line. He walks into dangerous ice, holds the puck until the penalty kill commits, and either threads a seam pass or rips a one-timer that sits at a career 10.4% shooting clip. The Avalanche's power play with Makar quarterbacking is a top-5 unit in the NHL every single year. Hockey IQ — Two Plays Ahead of Everyone Else The smartest play Makar makes on any given night usually isn't the one that shows up on the highlight reel. It's the pinch he doesn't take. The pass he holds for an extra half-second. The read that turns a 50/50 puck into an odd-man rush. His gap control in the neutral zone is the best among all NHL defencemen — he forces dump-ins without giving up speed, which lets Colorado play the transition game that MacKinnon and Rantanen thrive in. Intelligence is the hardest thing to scout, and Makar's is generational.

✗ Weaknesses

Size and Physical Battles Along the Boards At 5'11" and 187 pounds, Makar gets outmuscled in net-front battles against power forwards who plant themselves in the crease. He compensates with stick positioning and active feet, but there are 10-12 games per season where a physically dominant opponent — a Tkachuk, a Marchand in the dirty areas — wins the body-position war consistently. His board play in the defensive zone is adequate, never dominant. He'll never be the defenceman who punishes opponents physically, and against heavy forechecking teams in the playoffs, that limitation becomes visible. Durability in a Physical Western Conference Makar has missed meaningful time in three of his seven NHL seasons — 60 games in 2022-23, and a late-March 2026 upper-body injury that has kept him sidelined heading into the playoffs. For a player who averages nearly 25 minutes of ice time per night, the wear-and-tear concern is legitimate. He's not injury-prone in the traditional sense, but he plays a high-risk, high-speed style that exposes him to contact situations where his frame absorbs punishment that larger defencemen shrug off. Occasional Gambler's Instinct in His Own End Makar's offensive instincts occasionally overrule his defensive responsibilities. His career +165 suggests the gambles pay off far more often than they fail, but there are sequences — particularly on the backcheck after a failed pinch — where he's caught too deep in the offensive zone and leaves his partner exposed. In the 2024-25 playoffs, Colorado allowed several odd-man rushes that traced directly back to Makar committing to a play that didn't materialize. It's the trade-off of having a defenceman who plays like a fourth forward: when the risk doesn't pay, the cost is a 2-on-1 the other way.

Playing Style

Offensive defenceman with generational skating ability who functions as a fourth forward in transition. Carries the puck end-to-end with edgework that no other blueliner in the league can replicate, quarters the power play from the point or half-wall, and sustains a 1.08 points-per-game rate that only Bobby Orr and Paul Coffey have matched. The best pure skater in the NHL who also happens to play defence.

Trade Value Analysis

Cale Makar is untradeable. Full stop. He's a 26-year-old, two-time Norris winner who produces at the second-highest rate of any defenceman in NHL history, and he's signed for one more season at a $9 million cap hit that represents roughly $5-6 million in surplus value annually. If Colorado somehow made him available — which they won't — the return would require a franchise-altering package: multiple first-round picks, a blue-chip prospect, and a top-four defenceman going back. The closest comparable trade in recent history is the Erik Karlsson deal, and Makar is a significantly better player at a significantly better cap hit. His next contract will land in the $14-16 million AAV range, and Colorado's $42 million in projected 2027 cap space exists specifically to pay it. You don't trade generational defencemen. You build around them.

Career & Biography

Makar's Early Life: From Calgary to the Hobey Baker

Cale Douglas Makar was born on October 30, 1998, in Calgary, Alberta — a city that produces hockey players the way Detroit produces cars. His father Gary and mother Laura MacGregor raised two hockey-obsessed sons in a house where the game was less a hobby than a religion. His younger brother Taylor would follow the same path, eventually signing an entry-level contract with the same NHL franchise.

What made Makar's development unusual wasn't the talent — you could see that by the time he was 16. It was the route. To preserve his NCAA eligibility, Makar skipped the major junior path entirely and joined the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. In the AJHL. A league most NHL scouts treat as background noise. He won back-to-back championships, collected the league MVP, top defenceman, and CJHL Rookie of the Year awards, and put up 75 points in 54 games as a 17-year-old — numbers that forced scouts to recalibrate what they thought they knew about the AJHL's talent ceiling.

Then came UMass. Makar committed to the rebuilding Minutemen program and immediately became the best player in Hockey East. His sophomore season was absurd: he led the conference in scoring as a defenceman, was named Hockey East Player of the Year, and on April 12, 2019, won the Hobey Baker Award as the best player in college hockey. Three days later, he was in the NHL playoffs. Three days after that, he'd scored his first NHL goal. The 2017 draft class produced Nico Hischier and Nolan Patrick at 1-2 — Makar went fourth. I'd argue Colorado got the best player in that draft, and it's not particularly close.

Makar's NHL Career: A Point-Per-Game Defenceman From Day One

Most rookies need a season or two to adjust to the NHL. Makar needed a period. He debuted on April 15, 2019, in Game 3 of the first round against Calgary — and became the first defenceman in NHL history to score a goal in his playoff debut. That's not a typo. His first NHL game was a playoff game, and he scored. The Avalanche lost that series, but the message was clear: this kid was different.

His first full season in 2019-20 produced 50 points in 57 games and the Calder Trophy. Good rookies win the Calder. Makar won it playing 21 minutes a night and looking like he'd been in the league for a decade. The shortened 2020-21 season brought 44 points in 44 games — a point per game from a 22-year-old defenceman, which is the kind of rate only Bobby Orr and Paul Coffey sustained at that age.

Then came 2021-22, and I'd argue it's the single greatest individual season by a defenceman since Orr's prime. Makar put up 28 goals and 86 points in 77 regular-season games, won the Norris Trophy, then proceeded to dominate the playoffs with 29 points in 20 games — the fourth-highest postseason total by a defenceman in NHL history. He won the Conn Smythe. He won the Stanley Cup. He became only the third player ever to win the Norris and Conn Smythe in the same year, joining Orr (1970, 1972) and Nicklas Lidström (2002). He was 23 years old.

The years since have confirmed what that 2022 run suggested: Makar isn't having a moment. He's setting a standard. An injury-shortened 2022-23 still produced 66 points in 60 games. A healthy 2023-24 brought a career-high 90 points. And 2024-25 was his masterpiece in the regular season — 30 goals, 92 points, a +28 rating, and a second Norris Trophy. At 1.08 career points per game, he's tied with Paul Coffey for second all-time among defencemen behind Orr's 1.39. He reached 200 career points in 195 games — the fastest any NHL defenceman has ever done it, beating Sergei Zubov's 207-game mark.

"I mean, it's like comparing a Dodge to a Ferrari," Makar said when asked about the Orr comparisons. The self-deprecation is genuine. But here's the thing about that quote — he was the one who brought up the Ferrari. He knows exactly where he fits in this conversation, even if he's too polite to say it out loud.

2025-26 Season: 503 Career Points and Counting

Makar's current campaign has been typically excellent if slightly quieter than the year before — 20 goals and 75 points through 73 games, with a +29 rating that leads Colorado's blueline. The dip from 92 to 75 points has more to do with a recent upper-body injury that sidelined him in late March than any decline in quality. Early indications suggest the injury is not long-term, and he's expected back for the playoffs.

The bigger story is the milestone. Makar crossed 500 career points this season — reaching 503 in 468 games. For context, only five defencemen in NHL history reached 500 points faster. He's also watching his brother Taylor develop in the Colorado system after signing his own entry-level deal in March 2025, making the Makars the latest family act in an Avalanche organization that loves generational continuity.

The contract elephant in the room: Makar's six-year, $54 million extension expires after 2026-27. At $9 million AAV, it's already a bargain — he's been playing $14-16 million hockey on a $9 million deal. GM Chris MacFarland has approximately $42 million in projected cap space for 2027, and the first cheque he writes will have Makar's name on it. The only question is the number, and comparable extensions suggest it'll land somewhere north of $14 million AAV.

Off the Ice: The Quiet Superstar

Makar married his longtime girlfriend Tracy Evans in August 2024 in Boulder, Colorado. If you're looking for off-ice drama, you won't find it here. Makar is, by every credible account, the most boringly excellent human being in professional hockey. He plays NHL video games. He golfs in the summer. He trains with his brother. He does community work with young hockey players in Colorado. He once described his own playing style by comparing himself to a used car.

My read on Makar: he's the rarest kind of superstar — the kind who lets the game do all the talking and never seems bothered that the conversation about "best defenceman alive" always includes his name. Bobby Orr himself reached out after the 2022 Cup run. When the greatest defenceman in history acknowledges you unprompted, the Dodge-to-Ferrari comparison starts sounding less like humility and more like misdirection.

Frequently Asked Questions

How old is Cale Makar?

Cale Makar is 27 years old, born on October 30, 1998, in Calgary, Alberta. He entered the NHL at 20 after winning the Hobey Baker Award at UMass and debuted directly in the 2019 playoffs — scoring a goal in his very first game. He's the youngest defenceman in history to win the Hobey Baker, Calder, Norris, and Conn Smythe trophies.

What is Cale Makar's contract?

Makar is signed to a six-year, $54 million contract with a $9 million AAV, signed on July 24, 2021. The deal expires after the 2026-27 season, making him an unrestricted free agent. At current production levels, his $9M cap hit represents one of the biggest bargains in the NHL — he's been producing $14-16 million worth of value for half the price. Colorado has roughly $42 million in projected cap space for 2027.

How many goals does Cale Makar have?

Through the 2025-26 season, Makar has 136 career regular-season goals and 22 playoff goals across 468 regular-season and 79 playoff games. His best goal-scoring season was 2024-25, when he potted 30 goals in 80 games — the most by a Colorado defenceman in franchise history. He's scored at a career 10.4% shooting percentage, which is remarkably consistent for a blueliner.

Has Cale Makar won the Stanley Cup?

Yes — Makar won the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2022, earning the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the entire playoffs. He posted 8 goals and 29 points in 20 postseason games that year, including 10 points in the first-round sweep of Nashville. He became only the third defenceman to win the Norris and Conn Smythe in the same season, after Bobby Orr and Nicklas Lidström.

Is Cale Makar the best defenseman in the NHL?

By virtually every metric — yes. Makar has won two Norris Trophies (2022, 2025), produces at 1.08 points per game (second-highest rate for a defenceman in NHL history behind Bobby Orr), and reached 500 career points faster than all but five defencemen ever. His skating, offensive production, and hockey IQ combination is unmatched by any active blueliner. The only legitimate debate is whether he's the best since Orr.

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