Not only did Cale Makar take home the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman and win a Stanley Cup after just his third season in the league, but he was awarded the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP. It wasn’t a close race. All 18 voters selected the young Colorado Avalanche defenseman as the winner, utterly demolishing his only real competition in Nathan MacKinnon, who appeared on all but one ballot (15 second place votes, two third place).
It has been an incredible start to a career for Makar, who currently sits at 180 points in 178 regular season games, 60 more in 55 postseason contests, and now has three major individual awards before he even turns 24. His 29 points in this postseason are the fourth-most ever for a defenseman in a single year, trailing only Paul Coffey (37 in 1985), Brian Leetch (34 in 1994), and Al MacInnis (31 in 1989).
- The Detroit Red Wings are getting closer to naming a head coach, now that they will be able to interview Tampa Bay Lightning assistants Jeff Halpern and Derek Lalonde. Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News writes that Lalonde is currently considered a slight favorite for the job after his impressive rise through the ranks as a head coach. The Tampa Bay assistant has previous stops as head man with the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL, Toledo Walleye of the ECHL, and Iowa Wild of the AHL, having never experienced a losing season at any stop.
- The New Jersey Devils have had preliminary contract talks with several pending free agents, including Mason Geertsen and A.J. Greer according to Ryan Novozinsky of NJ.com, but not Frederik Gauthier, who is set to hit the open market next month. It appears as though the 2013 first-round pick might have to find a new place to ply his trade, even after his best minor league season to date. The 27-year-old Gauthier had 32 points in 51 games for the Utica Comets but was held scoreless in eight NHL contests.
LaLonde will be Blashill 2.0. Maybe with even less interesting post game interviews.
Uh, no.
Al?
I try to admit when I’m wrong.
Hockey wise, I might have never been more wrong than Cale Makar.
When the Avs drafted him, he was (for some reason) playing in Junior B. (Likely) every guy he played with or against is working at Jiffy Lube now. How do you draft him #4 overall when he was playing against such inferior competition with any faith that his game would translate against infinitely better players in the NHL?
I dunno, but Sakic did. And man, was he right to do so.
Such a fun player to watch.
He was playing for one of the best Junior A programs in North America, it was a far cry from junior B. Yes I agree that it was weird seeing such a high pick out of the AJHL but it wasn’t completely crazy I don’t think.
He wasn’t in the CHL. The level of competition he faced was far weaker.
It was a real gamble and a ballsy move by Sakic.
Never mind a decent young man. I live in the Amherst area, and the first time I saw Makar was when he was leading a half dozen of the UMass hockey team to lugging bulk groceries for distribution at the senior center.
And as far as Jiffy Lube goes, not quite. Some of the guys Makar played with made the pros. Three were ECHL regulars this past season, three were in the AHL, and Jeff Malott was a top liner for the Manitoba Moose who had a cup of coffee with the Jets this year. Several over in Europe. Still, yeah, this isn’t a league out of which superstars come: the most prominent NHLers before Makar to come out of the Brooks Bandits program were Ty Rattie and Chad Johnson.
It was Jr.A in Brooks Alberta…look who drafted him…probably knows talent…
Expect Barry Trotz to have a change of heart sign a five-year contract with the red wings in early July $ $ $
Wishing is not a strategy
Nolan Patrick drafted over Makar. Yikes
Hindsight is always 20/20, isn’t it?
Central Scouting had Makar ranked # 9 before the draft.
And that was 9th best North American skater. He really blossomed his draft year and was climbing pretty quickly, here’s where people had him:
Rankings
NHL Central Scouting: 9th among North American skaters
International Scouting Services: 9th among all skaters
TSN: 7th among all players
The Hockey News: 5th among all players
Red Line Report: 10th among all players
ESPN: 19th among all skaters
Is Makar rated the #1 player in the NHL next year ahead of Matthews and McDavid?
In the future will we see Makar make a serious run at Coffee’s record 37 in a singles season?