The day after signing his first professional contract last season, Avalanche rookie Cale Makar became the first defenseman in history to score a playoff goal in his NHL debut.
It was against the Flames, the team he grew up rooting for.
One day earlier, Makar was in Buffalo making a run at an NCAA championship with the University of Massachusetts before falling short in the program’s first-ever appearance in the Frozen Four.
“I’d like to say I was calm the whole time,” he told The Post with a smirk before the Avs’ 1-0 loss to the Islanders Monday night at Nassau Coliseum.
Makar, the fourth-overall pick in the 2017 draft, recalled the tedious journey it took to travel from one big stage to an even bigger one. It was a process to get his visa and there were several airports to navigate on the way to Calgary.
But once Makar was finally in his hometown, he was ready to play. The then-20-year-old wasn’t surprised by how many shifts he was given right away. Makar averaged 17:22 minutes of ice time through 10 playoff games last season and that’s how he preferred it.
“I just wanted to be thrown into it,” he said. “I think if I wouldn’t have played in that first game, I would’ve probably overthought a lot of stuff just being there. It was just being able to just get in it and beat that whole whirlwind of a couple of weeks.”
Makar said getting a taste of NHL play during the playoffs last season has made the start to his first regular season that much easier. More than anything, it was an opportunity for him to get a head start on his introduction to the team. And boy did his new teammates welcome him.
Colorado ended up defeating the Flames in five games, and the Sharks were on deck. In between the series, Avalanche players attended a Nuggets game, where Makar was caught on the jumbotron sporting a cowboy hat.
Cowboy Cale made an appearance at the Nuggets game last night…#GoAvsGohttps://t.co/8uRznhUkFP
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) April 24, 2019
“He was just like shaking his head,” Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog said of Makar’s initial reaction when first handed the stylish cap. “He blushed a little bit, but then he just kind of took it like a man and rocked it.
“Cale is a good sport. The rookie stuff and being the young guy, he takes it in stride.”
But Landeskog said Makar doesn’t play like a rookie. Even after watching longtime Avalanche teammate Nathan Mackinnon — who was recently named the Central Division captain for the 2020 All-Star Game — come into the league in 2013, Landeskog considers Makar to be the most impressive rookie he’s ever seen.
Makar’s two-point performance in the Avs’ 7-3 win over the Blues on Jan. 2 made him the eighth defenseman in NHL history to record his first 30 career regular-season points in 33 games or fewer, as well as the second to do so with a Colorado team. He’s ranked second among rookies in the league with 32 points (nine goals, 23 assists) and currently quarterbacks the first power-play unit.
But it isn’t in Makar’s nature to willingly discuss his accomplishments. In fact, the amount of attention he’s gotten has made him borderline uncomfortable — like when an employee of the Denver International Airport train station called and asked him to record his voice to greet travelers to the state. He wasn’t a fan of that.
Come to Denver. Get greeted by Cale Makar on the train to baggage claim.
Again. He was in college a year ago and now he’s already one of the faces of the #Avs. pic.twitter.com/2KzUJ6el1R
— Ryan S. Clark (@ryan_s_clark) November 22, 2019
But get him talking about his ambition and suddenly he has more to say than usual.
“I think for myself, just in general, I have high expectations,” Makar said. “I just want to be able to come in everyday and just be consistent. I haven’t really, to be honest with you, thought about those long-term goals and stuff like that yet. I think, for me, it’s just more team-set goals and be able to produce with these guys and have fun with them.”
Makar has suddenly found himself in the 2020 NHL All-Star Last Men In conversation. And with the direction he’s been trending, the Calder Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL’s rookie of the year, is looking more and more like a possibility as well.
“I would be very honored and humbled,” Makar said of becoming an All-Star. “It’s not something that’s really on my mind. If it happens, it happens.”
