Avalanche: Cale Makar leads close Calder Trophy race

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar has emerged as the early favorite in what should be a heavily contested Calder Trophy race.

Every year, the Calder Trophy is awarded to the NHL’s top rookie. Last season, Elias Pettersson of the Vancouver Canucks won the award after wowing fans with regular highlights and outstanding production. This season, Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar has emerged as the favorite in what should be a hotly contested Calder race.

Makar’s NHL debut came during the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He provided an immediate spark for the Avs and helped them pull off a first-round upset of the Calgary Flames, scoring a goal in his first game to help them win Game 3. Makar finished the postseason with six points, including five assists, in 10 games.

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He immediately looked like he belonged in the NHL. There’s usually an adjustment period for rookies and Makar completely bypassed it. And keep in mind, he did this immediately after his final season in college ended. Makar, days after leading the University of Massachusetts to the Frozen Four with 46 points in 41 games, didn’t look out of place on the biggest stage.

So far this season, it’s clear what he did in the postseason wasn’t a fluke. The Avalanche clearly like him a lot, as they felt comfortable enough in Makar to trade defenseman Tyson Barrie and effectively hand his role to Makar. He has rewarded the Avs for their faith in him with an outstanding start.

Through his first 17 games this season, Makar has 17 points. He’s tied for third among all defensemen in points, trailing only John Carlson of the Washington Capitals and Dougie Hamilton of the Carolina Hurricanes. Not only that, Makar is leading all rookies in points and already has a five-point lead over Victor Olofsson and Quinn Hughes.

Granted, eight of Makar’s 13 assists have come on the power play. But still, he’s been able to have a massive impact at such a young age. That’s especially rare to see out of a defenseman. But then again, Makar isn’t your typical rookie defenseman.

And don’t let Makar’s 19:07 of ice time per game deceive you. The Avalanche are not sheltering him. According to PuckIQ, he has played the third-most minutes against elite competition among all Avs defensemen. Makar’s played about 37% of his five-on-five minutes against elite competition.

Among rookie defensemen, only Ethan Bear of the Edmonton Oilers (who should be getting a lot more attention in the Calder race than he’s been getting) has played a higher percentage of his minutes against elite competition. However, Bear only has five points in 19 games while Makar has 17 points.

Despite Makar’s strong start, he has some very tough competition. Olofsson seems to have cooled off a little bit, but Hughes is steadily gaining the trust of the Vancouver Canucks coaching staff. Expect his minutes and his production to rise. 2019 first overall pick Jack Hughes took a while to get going, but quietly, he has nine points in his last 14 games.

Rookie goaltenders Thatcher Demko and Ilya Samsonov haven’t seen many games yet (six games each), but if either can get an extended run in goal, it wouldn’t be surprising if they run with it and put up impressive numbers.

Hughes and company are definitely going to put pressure on Makar to keep on performing at a high level. But so far, nothing’s been able to stop him from doing that. At this point, Makar’s earned the right to be the Calder Trophy favorite.