Player Profile: Cale Makar

Cale Makar is a 27-year-old defenseman from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, who was born on October 30, 1998. Makar began his hockey career with the NWCAA Bruins under-18 team as a 13-year-old. In 28 games during this season, Makar had four goals and 16 assists. Makar also had three assists in five playoff games this season. Where would Makar continue his hockey career after this season as a 13-year-old?

Makar played one season for the Calgary Flames’ under-15 team of the Alberta Elite Hockey League. In 33 games, Makar had three goals and 19 assists. Makar also played two seasons for the Flames’ under-18 team. In 34 games during his second season, Makar scored seven goals and added six assists. After the 2014-15 season, Makar moved to the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.

During his second and third seasons with the Bandits, Makar played 54 games. In 54 games during the 2015-16 season, Makar scored 10 goals and added 45 assists. He tallied an astonishing 20 more points during the 2016-17 season by scoring 24 goals and adding 51 assists.

In the season before being drafted by the Avalanche, Makar had 16 goals and 33 assists in 41 games for UMass. Head coach Greg Carvel named Makar, one of the captains for this season, as a 19-year-old defenseman. “I am very excited to announce that Niko Hildenbrand, Cale Makar and Mario Ferraro will serve as the captains for the 2018-19 season,” said Carvel.

Cale Makar was drafted with the Fourth Overall Pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft by the Colorado Avalanche

While at UMass, Makar won the Hobey Baker Trophy as the top men’s ice hockey player in the country after the 2019 NCAA season. He was the first UMass Minutemen to win the award. Greg Carvel, the coach of the Minutemen at the time, knew what kind of player he had in Makar. After helping the Minutemen reach their first-ever Frozen Four and being named Hockey East Player of the Year and a CCM/AHA Hockey First Team All-American, Makar had proven himself at every level of hockey except for the NHL.

“It has been an honor and a pleasure coaching Cale Makar, a very worthy Hobey Baker winner,” said UMass head coach Greg Carvel. “His hockey ability, combined with his high character and leadership abilities brought UMass hockey to prominence and he will forever be one of the greatest to wear the Minutemen jersey. I want to thank Cale on behalf of our staff, administration and team for being such a tremendous teammate and helping build a culture that will remain the foundation of UMass hockey for years to come.”

Cale Makar was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche with the fourth overall pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft out of the University of Massachusetts as a 6’0”, 187 lb. defenseman. Makar fell to the Avalanche after the Dallas Stars selected Miro Heiskanen one pick before the Avalanche selected Makar. Revisionist history says that the Stars should have selected Makar, but that is not to say that Heiskanen is not a great defender in his own right.