Imagine, just for a second, showing up to the
very first day of a highly competitive new job.
You walk into the building, you sit down at your
desk, and within minutes, you execute a task
that literally no one in the history of the company
has ever accomplished. You just casually shatter
a ceiling on day one. Right, exactly. You just
shatter it. It sounds like an impossible scenario,
right? Like a slightly unbelievable movie script.
But that is exactly how Kial Makar started his
professional hockey career. Which is still hard
to wrap my head around, honestly. It really is.
Welcome to today's Deep Dive. If you are a hardcore
ice hockey fan, or honestly, if you just love
learning about generational sports talents who
completely rewrite the rulebook, you are in the
right place. Oh, for sure. Today, we are looking
at a massive stack of sources. We've got scouting
reports, game logs, and a comprehensive Wikipedia
dossier detailing the life and career of Canadian
ice hockey defense. There is a lot to cover.
There is. Our mission for this deep dive is to
unpack his rapid rise, his unprecedented stats,
and the complex legacy of a player who is fundamentally
changing how the defenseman position is played
in the NHL. What's fascinating here is that McCarr's
greatness isn't solely about raw athletic skill.
Yeah. I mean, we see incredibly skilled athletes
pass through the league every single decade.
Yeah, the league is full of talent. Exactly.
But with McCarr, it's this highly unconventional
path he took to reach the NHL, combined with
a truly unique blend of elite offensive production
and pristine defensive mastery. He doesn't just
play the game. No, he dictates the pace of it
entirely. To understand how he got to a place
where he's drawing comparisons to the enduring
legends of the sport, we really have to look
at how he built his foundation, because the way
he constructed his career was anything but typical.
OK, let's unpack this. We have to start at the
beginning in his hometown of Calgary, Alberta.
When you look at top tier Canadian hockey prospects,
there is a very standard roadmap. You play minor
hockey and then you get drafted into major junior
specifically for players in the West, the Western
Hockey League or the WHL. That's the established
pipeline. Right. And McCarr was drafted by the
WHL's Medicine Hat Tigers in 2013. But he doesn't
go there. Instead, he takes a huge detour. He
decides to play junior hockey with the Brooks
Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League,
the AJHL. Which is a very interesting choice.
It is. For those who might just be general sports
fans, the AJHL is considered a noticeable step
down in competition from the WHL. So you have
this elite prospect deliberately choosing a league
where the spotlight isn't nearly as bright. Yeah.
But my question is, wasn't that an enormous risk?
I mean, bypassing top tier competition usually
tanks a player's draft stock, doesn't it? It
is a massive risk. But if we connect this to
the bigger picture, that specific decision is
exactly what sets up his entire developmental
trajectory. Well, the primary reason a player
chooses a junior, a league like the AJHL over
a major junior league, is to retain their NCAA
college eligibility. Ah, right. Because of the
amateur rules. Exactly. In the eyes of the NCAA,
major junior leagues are technically considered
professional because players receive small stipends
for their living expenses. So if he played even
one game? If McCart played a single game for
the Medicine Hat Tigers, his dream of playing
American college hockey would have evaporated
instantly. Wow. By playing for the Brooks Bandits,
he kept that door wide open. And he didn't just
tread water there. He dominated the HHL. In the
2016 -2017 season, he led all defensemen with
75 points in 54 games. That's wild production
for a defenseman. He won league MVP, the top
defenseman award, and led the team to a championship.
That sheer dominance validated his unconventional
choice. The NHL certainly took notice because
in 2017, the Colorado Avalanche drafted him fourth
overall. Fourth overall out of the AJHL. Yes,
that was a monumental moment. It made McCarr
the highest drafted player ever to come straight
out of the AJHL. Which is just staggering to
consider. He bypasses the traditional powerhouse
leagues, bets entirely on his own development
plan, and still goes forth overall. It really
is unprecedented. But then he doubles down on
doing things his own way. He gets drafted by
the Avalanche, a franchise that is understandably
eager to get him into their professional system,
but he stays completely loyal to his college
commitment. He doesn't rush it. No, he heads
to the University of Massachusetts Amherst to
play for the UMass Minutemen. At the time, UMass
was a rebuilding program, not some perennial
national powerhouse. He goes there to develop
at his own pace. And that says a lot about his
maturity. It does. And here is a detail from
the sources that really underscores his mindset.
Following his freshman year and after winning
gold with Canada at the 2018 World Junior Championships,
he is reportedly invited to join the Canadian
senior team for the 2018 Winter Olympics. That
is the dream for any Canadian kid. And he actually
turns it down. He declines an Olympic invite
because he didn't want to miss three weeks of
UMass college games. That is unbelievable. Most
19 -year -olds are prioritizing making it to
a morning lecture on time, and he's turning down
the Olympics to honor a commitment to his college
program. It speaks volumes about his character
and his long -term vision. Yeah. He understood
that development isn't always a sprint to the
biggest available stage. Right. He knew what
he needed. He recognized that he needed the defensive
repetitions, he needed to physically mature,
and he wanted to honor the commitment he made
to his teammates and coaches. And that patience
paid off. Spectacularly. Yeah. During his sophomore
season, from 2018 to 2019, he led the Hockey
East in scoring, was named a Unanimous Player
of the Year, and pushed UMass all the way to
the Frozen Four College Hockey's National Championship.
An incredible run. To cap that collegiate career
off, on April 12, 2019, he was awarded the Hobie
Baker Award, given to the top player in NCAA
men's ice hockey. I want to walk through the
timeline of what happens next because it is a
dizzying few days. On April 12, he wins the Hobie
Baker. The very next night, April 13, UMass loses
the National Championship game. A crushing defeat
for a college kid. It is, but he doesn't even
have a moment to dwell on it. On April 14th,
he signs his entry -level contract with the Colorado
Avalanche. And on April 15th, he is thrown directly
into the fire. Talk about a whirlwind. He makes
his NHL debut in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup playoffs
against the Calgary Flames. That is his hometown
team. During the first period, he jumps onto
the ice, takes his very first shot in the National
Hockey League, and he scores. It genuinely feels
like a Hollywood script. It's the most unbelievable
96 hours you could ever script for a young athlete.
But looking closely at the historical context
of that sequence, by scoring that goal, McCarr
became the first defenseman in the entire history
of the NHL to score a playoff goal in his league
debut. First in history. It wasn't just an avalanche
franchise record. It was a league -wide first.
It signaled to the hockey world that the Avalanche
hadn't just drafted a competent player, they
had drafted a generational phenom. And that momentum
carried right into his first full rookie campaign
in 2019 -2020. He arrived in that season and
immediately set a new standard. He certainly
did. He scored 12 goals, establishing a new Avalanche
franchise record for a rookie defenseman. He
recorded 50 points in just 57 games. He was leading
all rookies in scoring at the time he suffered
a brief injury, too. Exactly. And ultimately,
he took home the Calder Memorial Trophy as the
NHL's Rookie of the Year, beating out some incredibly
fierce competition like Vancouver's Quinn Hughes.
For that moment forward, he just starts systematically
dismantling the record books. What stands out
to you the most from those early records? The
statistic from the sources that really highlights
his early career pace is how quickly he reached
the 200 -point milestone. McCarr became the fastest
defenseman in NHL history to record 200 points,
achieving it in just 195 games. Wow, 195 games.
He broke the previous record held by Hall of
Famer Sergei Zubov, who took 207 games to hit
the same mark. That's a significant gap. When
you are besting records held by players of Zubov's
caliber, you aren't just having a productive
start to your career. You are fundamentally redefining
what is mathematically expected from a player
at that position. Right, because historically,
defensemen weren't doing this. Historically,
the evolution of the NHL defenseman has shifted
from big, bruising shot blockers, whose sole
job was to suppress the opposition's offense,
to more agile playmakers. Mack Hart takes that
evolution to its extreme. He's like a rover out
there. He utilizes incredible lateral mobility
and edge work. He has this unique ability to
walk the blue line moving side to side along
the offensive zone boundary to open up shooting
lanes. He acts as the primary offensive engine
for his team. Here's where it gets really interesting,
though, because everything we've covered so far
just serves as the prologue to the 2021 -2022
season. If his rookie year was the introduction...
The 21 -22 season was his coronation. Absolutely.
He scores 28 goals as a defenseman. That broke
the Avalanche's single -season record for a blue
liner, and it was the most by any NHL defenseman
since Brent Burns achieved it five years earlier.
And he finishes the regular season with 86 points
and wins the James Norris Memorial Trophy as
the league's best defenseman. But the regular
season was just setting the stage for the 2022
Stanley Cup playoffs? The 2022 playoff run by
the Colorado Avalanche remains one of the most
dominant team performances in recent sports history,
and Makar was the undeniable catalyst. They were
an absolute wagon. In the opening round against
the Nashville Predators, the Avalanche swept
the series in four games. Makar recorded 10 points
in those four games alone. That's two and a half
points a game. Setting a new record for points
by a defenseman in the first four games of a
postseason. His impact was so pronounced that
his teammate, superstar forward Nathan McKinnon,
stated to the media during that run he might
be the best player in the league right now. Notice
the phrasing there. Not the best defenseman,
but the best player in the entire National Hockey
League. Exactly. And he backed up that claim
round after round. The Avalanche defeated the
St. Louis Blues, swept the Edmonton Oilers, and
then took down the back -to -back defending champion
Tampa Bay Lightning in the final to win the Stanley
Cup. A truly historic run. Makar finished that
postseason with a team -leading 29 points. To
put that in perspective, that is the fourth most
points by a defenseman in a single playoff run
in NHL history. Naturally, he was awarded the
So where does this put him historically? This
raises an important question regarding his place
in the pantheon of the sport. Winning the Norris
Trophy as the best defenseman and the Conn Smythe
as playoff MVP in the exact same season is an
exceedingly rare feat. How rare are we talking?
By accomplishing it... McCarr became only the
third defenseman in NHL history to achieve that
double honor in a single year. Only the third.
The other two players on that list are Bobby
Orr, who accomplished it twice in the early 1970s,
and Nicholas Libstrom, who did it in 2002. Oh
my goodness. Consider the gravity of those names.
Bobby Orr is widely recognized as the player
who revolutionized the offensive capabilities
of the defenseman position decades ago. Nicholas
Libstrom is often referred to as the perfect
defenseman, securing seven Norris trophies in
his career. And Makar joins him at 23 years old.
That is the exclusive tier he entered. He vaulted
past the status of a current elite player and
entered the realm of the sports immortals. What
makes this deep dive particularly compelling,
though, is that the sources don't just present
a flawless hockey robot. They highlight his character
and examine the moments where the intensity of
the sport led to complications, which really
grounds him as a human being navigating a highly
volatile game. That's a crucial part of his story.
For example, there is a memorable story from
December 2022. The Avalanche are playing the
New York Islanders. Makar has the puck. He takes
a spill near the boards and the referee blows
the whistle, calling a tripping penalty on the
Islanders' Matthew Barzal. Right. A fairly standard
play. Standard hockey protocol dictates that
you take the power play advantage and you head
to the bench. But Makar skates over to the referee,
shakes his head, and actively convinces the official
to rescind the penalty. You never see that. Never.
He explains that he simply lost an edge on his
skate and fell on his own, clarifying that Barzal
didn't trip him. Barzal later admitted he was
stunned and wasn't sure he would have done the
same thing. It was a massive display of sportsmanship
that quickly went viral across the sports world.
It was a remarkable moment of integrity. It was.
However, the dossier also provides a balanced
narrative by detailing a significant blemish
on his professional record, which occurred during
the highly charged 2023 playoffs against the
Seattle Kraken. Right. The McCann hit. During
Game 4 of that series, McCarr delivered a hard
late hit into the boards on Kraken forward Jared
McCann. The puck had actually deflected out of
play into the upper netting, and McCann had relaxed
his posture, anticipating the whistle. He wasn't
expecting contact at all. McCarr delivered the
hit anyway, resulting in an injury that removed
McCann from the game. McCarr received a two -minute
interference penalty on the ice, but the next
day, the NHL's Department of Player Safety handed
him a one -game suspension. It marked the very
first suspension and disciplinary offense of
his entire career. Following the game, McCarr
stated that he had no intention of injuring McCann,
explaining that he genuinely wasn't sure if the
puck was out of play because the arena was so
loud he couldn't hear the whistle. But the league
had a responsibility to act on a late hit. That
is a vital part of his story, because it illustrates
the razor -thin margin for error in high -stakes
playoff hockey. The game moves at lightning speed,
adrenaline is peaking, and split -second decisions
have massive consequences. It demonstrates that
even a player celebrated globally for his profound
sportsmanship can misjudge a play that results
in a dangerous outcome. The Avalanche ultimately
lost that series to the Kraken in seven games,
making it a distinctly difficult chapter in his
career. But I'm curious how a player of his caliber
responds to that kind of adversity. Because he
didn't shrink from the spotlight. Instead, he
recalibrated. He let his play do the talking.
He focused on his on -ice production and let
his gameplay answer any lingering questions.
He became the cover athlete for the EA Sports
NHL 24 video game, which is a massive cultural
milestone for any player. A huge deal for the
modern generation. And then we look at his recent
2024 -2025 season. He hits an entirely new offensive
stratosphere. He scores 30 goals. He is only
the ninth defenseman in NHL history to ever reach
30 goals in a season and just the second to do
it in the post -lockout era. That is phenomenal
production. He finishes the year with 92 points,
earns a nomination for the Ted Lindsay Award
as the most outstanding player voted by his peers,
and on June 11th, 2025, he is awarded his second
career Norris Trophy. The ability to continually
elevate his game when the entire league is actively
designing game plans specifically to shut him
down is incredible. They all know he's the key,
and they still can't stop him. And that individual
dominance in the NHL naturally transitioned back
onto the international stage. Remember, we discussed
him turning down the 2018 Olympics to stay at
UMass. Right. And NHL players were not permitted
to participate in the 2022 Olympics. So despite
being widely considered the best defenseman in
the world, he hadn't represented Canada's senior
team in a best -on -best international tournament
until very recently. The anticipation for him
to finally put on that Team Canada sweater was
palpable. And that brings us right up to the
recent international campaigns, the 2025 Four
Nations Face -Off and the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Let's look at the Four Nations tournament first.
Right. In early 2025, he dealt with some adversity
right away, missing a group stage game due to
illness. But he rallies, returns for the highly
anticipated final against the United States.
And ends up providing the primary assist on Connor
McDavid's overtime game -winning goal to secure
the gold medal for Canada. Stepping up in that
clutch moment was the perfect introduction to
senior international hockey. It served as the
perfect prelude to the 2026 Winter Olympics in
Milano Cortina. The stakes for this tournament
were incredibly high, as it marked the first
time NHL players were back in the Olympics since
2014. A huge moment for the sport. Makar was
one of the first six players officially named
to the Canadian roster, and he was selected to
serve as an alternate captain, playing under
the leadership of Captain Sidney Crosby. The
tournament culminated in a dramatic, tension
-filled gold medal match, once again featuring
Canada against the United States. Makar was brilliant
under pressure. He scored a crucial game -tying
goal in the second period to keep Canada's hopes
alive in a fiercely defensive battle. The atmosphere
in that arena during the gold medal game was
absolutely electric. Ultimately, the Americans
managed to win it 2 -1 in overtime, meaning Canada
took home the silver medal. But Matcar's individual
brilliance throughout the tournament was undeniable.
He tied the record for the most points by a Canadian
defenseman in a single Olympic tournament featuring
NHL players, registering six points. And he was
rightfully recognized by being named to the Olympic
all -star team. Whether he is skating in the
AJHL, the NCAA, the NHL, or on Olympic ice. His
production rate remains historically significant.
everywhere he goes. So what does this all mean?
We have gone through the statistics, the historic
trophies, the incredible highs of a Stanley Cup
run, and the complex realities of playing a violently
fast sport. It's a massive body of work for someone
his age. We're looking at a kid from Calgary
who made a highly unusual calculated choice to
play junior, a hockey over major junior so he
could preserve his path to college. He took his
time. He respected his own developmental process.
He didn't rush it. And he evolved into a record
-shattering, Stanley Cup -winning, Olympic meddling
phenomenon who has completely redefined the offensive
capabilities of the defenseman position. I think
what stands out the most and how this connects
directly to you, the listener, regardless of
your profession or your passions, is his pacing.
Makar's story is a masterclass in staying true
to your own developmental timeline. That's a
really great point. When the pressure was immense
to jump to the WHL, he calculated the risk and
said no. When the pressure was on to turn professional
early or go to the Olympics as a teenager, he
chose to stay at UMass. He ran his own race.
He didn't rush to the top just because the door
was open. He built his foundation deliberately.
It proves that sometimes taking the unconventional
path, the one that might look like a step backwards
or sideways to outside observers, is exactly
what you need to build the strongest possible
foundation for long -term historic success. Betting
on yourself and running your own race is a powerful
takeaway, but I want to leave you with one final
provocative thought to mull over today. Let's
hear it. We have spent this entire deep dive
exploring how Kale McCarr has shown the world
that a defenseman can drive an offense just as
effectively, if not more so, than a top line
forward. He has created the blueprint for the
modern game. He certainly has. So think about
the next generation. Think about the 8, 9, and
10 -year -old kids who are lacing up their skates
right now, who are growing up watching Makar
execute flawless edge work and post record -breaking
point streaks. They're all trying to be him.
Exactly. How will that next generation of hockey
players entirely change the way the game is played
from the blue line? If Makar is the pioneer of
this new era, what does the next evolution of
the sport even look like? It's a fascinating
question. It is something to keep in mind the
next time you watch a game. Thanks for joining
us on this deep dive.