Cale Makar’s ongoing evolution has required time, freedom to help unlock his superpowers

BROOKS, Alberta — Cale Makar collected the puck along the left wall, faked like he was going to the middle of the ice and instead cut toward the net with a violent juke that sent a defender to the ice.

Makar’s burst of speed was so furious, the other defenders nearby missed their angle and could not stop him en route to a goal.

Brooks Bandits coach Ryan Papaioannou described it as his favorite goal from one of the best players he’s ever coached — the kind of highlight-reel play that lives up to expectations on YouTube.

Papaioannou loved it because there was a player on the other team who had played for Brooks and was telling his new teammates where and how to stop the Bandits on faceoff plays. So he drew up a new one during an intermission, with the idea of creating more space for his star defenseman.

Makar went beyond what Papaioannou could have imagined.

“That was a goal that was like, ‘Wow. Yeah. … He might be better than the other guys on the ice,” Papaioannou deadpanned. “What were the chances that play was going to work? Well, Cale just literally did the entire thing himself.”

When asked if he remembers that goal from seven years ago, Makar’s reply was another reminder of his perpetual pursuit of a standard so high it drives his path to greatness.

Rather than talk about the goal, he immediately went to a bad decision he made that led to a goal against in overtime — one of only nine games the Bandits lost that season before collecting a second-straight Alberta Junior Hockey League championship.

For the second time in three seasons, Makar has established a new record for points by an Avalanche defenseman. The first time he did it, Makar won the Norris Trophy, the Conn Smythe Trophy and the Stanley Cup in 2022.

For the Avs to climb back to the top of the NHL mountain in these upcoming playoffs, Colorado will need him to be the guy who grew from a tiny kid in Calgary to a unique weapon who can dictate terms of engagement against the best hockey players on the planet.

“He’s got a tough job out there. He plays the most minutes, in every situation,” Avs center Nathan MacKinnon said. “He’s definitely the best defenseman in the league and it’s not really that close.”

It took time, growth and a lot of hard work to get there.

Makar was not a phenom as he reached his teenage years. When he first played for the Bandits in the AJHL, Makar’s birth certificate said he was 16 years old. His coach looks at an old photo and still swears he looked 12.

During his two years in Brooks, a small town two hours east of Calgary, and two years at UMass in Amherst, Makar evolved from an eighth-round pick in the WHL draft to one of the sport’s elite prospects. His body transformed, which allowed Makar to unlock the full capabilities of his three superpowers — his mind, his feet and his hands.

“By year two, it was clear-cut, like … wow, this kid is different,” Papaioannou said. “…  Throughout that year, he kept moving up draft boards to the point where it stopped being scouts at our games and we started seeing NHL GMs.

“You knew it was something different.”

Training his mind

Colorado’s two aces — MacKinnon and Makar — have so much in common. Their drive and commitment to succeed are the stuff of legend. Their talent is obvious.

The standard they set, both for themselves and everyone around them, is stratospherically high. Both players will typically deflect credit when they have a big game or reach a milestone. Makar often goes a step further.

Even on the nights when the scoresheet says Makar was a difference-maker, he finds reasons to not be satisfied. He also speaks to the media more often, particularly after losses, and typically finds a way to shoulder the blame.

Makar’s modus operandi has been a marvel to those who have coached him for years.

“The first thing that was unique to me was the books he was reading,” Papaioannou said. “And honestly for guys at this age, even the fact that he was reading books. They weren’t all hockey books. They were mindset books, all these different things that his dad instilled.

“It wasn’t like he was a crazy gym guy or he was doing all this extra work with his stick. It was the stuff he was reading, the mental training stuff, the visualization. Most of these kids aren’t reading books, unless they have to. That was different.”

Makar read books like “Hockey Tough” by Saul L. Miller, looking for an edge on his competition and ways to develop as a player. During his time at UMass, he read plenty through his studies as a sports management major.

There have been stories written about Makar and his literary prowess since joining the Avalanche. Even on this innocuous factoid, Makar finds a way to downplay it.

“I feel like I get credit for being an avid reader when I’m really not. If I see something that I like, I might read it,” he said. “I think that comes from my family, but it wasn’t like I was just going home and reading every day.”

Papaioannou and his coach at UMass, Greg Carvel, gave particularly similar answers to the same question: What was it like to coach Cale Makar? The words they used paint a familiar picture: humble, selfless, just wanting to be one of the guys.

There was another common thread: emotional maturity. The physical maturation of Makar’s body was ongoing during his time at both stops, but being the wise-beyond-his-years kid was evident to both. Papaioannou touted his ability to remain even-keeled, avoiding the highs and lows of a typical teenage hockey player.

Carvel praised his decision to remain in college for a second season, and how he kept “two feet in” during a breakout campaign that was obviously going to end with him signing a contract with Colorado.

“The big thing was time. He needed time to build stamina, build strength,” Carvel said. “I think a big part of development is being a leader and being in a role where you have a really big impact on the group. When he was a freshman, there were other leaders. But when you’re a sophomore and you’re the best player on the team and the one everyone is looking up to you, you’ve got a responsibility.”

Training his body

Makar’s feet and hands were already advanced before he arrived in Brooks, but his work both on and off the ice there and in Massachusetts set the course for a potential Hall of Fame career.

One reason Makar ended up with the Bandits was that an older cousin had played for the program. Another was that Papaioannou looked beyond his diminutive stature and pursued Makar for his offensive upside.

He was happy to allow Makar to explore that potential, even if it meant mistakes at first. The reward was obvious as he became a dominant player.

“It always started with his deception,” Papaioannou said. “We would encourage him and push him to try and do more. I think his first evolution was being allowed to try whatever he wanted offensively. I think from there he really learned how to manipulate people in one-on-one situations. He was breaking guys down and then knowing what the next play would be. He already had these unique qualities, and the biggest thing was his feet.”

Makar’s biggest takeaways from his hockey education in Brooks were the details the coaching staff helped implement and the habits he created. He was given freedom to make magic happen, but also the tools to play at both ends of the ice in a more structured system.

That served him well as he matriculated to UMass, where defending against bigger, older, stronger players was a top challenge. Carvel, who coached a young Erik Karlsson as an assistant with the Ottawa Senators and just had top prospect Scott Morrow with the Minutemen, called gifted players like them “uncoachable” — at least when they have the puck.

So they worked on Makar’s play without it, while he continued to work on his body away from the ice. One of the biggest selling points NCAA programs like to make for a player choosing between college and major juniors in Canada is the schedule.

NCAA teams play fewer games, so players spend more time training and less time recovering. Makar had access to a strength and conditioning program that also helped develop Division I football and basketball players.

His feet were elite for the AJHL level — the edge work, his shiftiness and ability to change directions. They found another level at UMass, with his increased strength and stamina.

“His skating took a big jump from his first year to his second year,” Carvel said. “In his second year, it felt like he was getting breakaways every game. He wasn’t doing that in his first year.”

Makar’s hands kept getting better as well — one of the main reasons he doesn’t need to wind up and blast pucks to beat goaltenders these days. His wrist shot is arguably the best at his position.

Raising the bar

Makar is now 25 and just wrapped up his fifth NHL season.

He’s now scored 20-plus goals twice in the NHL. It would be three straight if not for injuries limiting him to 60 games last season.

He’s likely to finish in the top three of the Norris Trophy voting for the fourth consecutive year. Nicklas Lidstrom didn’t finish that high until his age-27 season. Victor Hedman rattled off six straight top-three finishes, with the first at age 26.

His path, from Calgary to a Hall of Fame plaque in the Great Hall at the corner of Yonge and Front streets in Toronto with stops in Brooks, Amherst and Denver, is very much on course. The development of his mind, feet and hands has helped Makar continually raise the bar for himself with each new season.

It’s how Makar can score a franchise-best 90 points this season and still feel like he has more to do. He can look across the locker room at the other superstar reaching new heights in his late 20s, and it’s not hard to forecast the same.

“If Cale has a rough night or gives up a bad scoring chance or they get a penalty-kill goal against or he’s late going someplace or he’s in the wrong lane but he has three points, he’s going to be critical of himself,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “And the same thing vice versa. If he’s great defensively but he knows the team needs him to contribute offensively, he’ll be critical of himself.

“I like that, as long as you’re not using a negative talk toward yourself and you know you’re striving to be better and you’re going to work to be better, it’s exactly what we want.”

Making history

Cale Makar is rewriting the Avalanche franchise record book on an annual basis. He also stacks up with some of the best to ever play his position. Here’s a look at his incredible success, both locally and overall:

Best seasons in franchise history

First five years in the NHL

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