Makar measures up to all-time greats

DENVER —There’s no question Cale Makar is breathing some rarefied hockey air while playing here in the Mile High City.

Might the Colorado Avalanche defenceman ultimately be among the best to ever lace up the skates and hit the ice at his position?

We here at Dump & Chase certainly think he’s in the conversation, even if his coach tried to stickhandle around the question Friday.

“I mean, comparing players from different eras is always tough,” Jared Bednar began.

“There’s a bias when you grow up watching certain guys that you know were so great at what they did and then now there’s a player or players around the League that are currently breaking records. I think it’s hard. Everyone’s going to have their own opinion on it but certainly I think Cale’s deserving of some of that credit he gets. He’s an elite player, early in his career his numbers would say that, the eye test says that.”

Indeed it does, Consider that the 25-year-old has 336 points (86 goals, 250 assists) through his first 315 regular-season games, which amounts to 1.07 points-per-game so far in his career.

Bobby Orr, at 1.39 points-per-game, is all the all-time leader in that category. Paul Coffey is second at 1.09. Then there’s Makar right behind him.

“I think it’s a matter of time before everyone sees what he’s capable of and just watching his career unfold,” Bednar continued.

“But certainly there’s an appreciation here in Denver and I think growing across north America, anyway, if what he’s able to do and how he’s able to play in a really tough league.”

The Winnipeg Jets are getting an up-close look in this first round playoff series, as Makar has five points (one goal, four assists) in the first two games. That gives him 70 points (17 goals 53 assists) in 63 career playoff games, which is 1.11 points-per-game — an even higher clip than the regular-season.

Incredible stuff.

Veteran Avalanche defenceman Jack Johnson was asked to compare Makar versus Orr on Friday.

“I mean, I think it’s like bar talk, right? Comparing people from different eras, or cafeteria-room talk with kids,” he said with a laugh.

“It’s hard to compare people from different eras. Personally I think each generation is bigger, stronger, faster than the last, just like, when I’m done I’ll watch the game in 10-15 years and think, ‘Man, those guys are better than we were.’ It’s just the progression of sports and athleticism, everything. First of all I think it’s an honor for him to have that comparison. I think it’s well deserved. But I think you can make those comparisons until you’re blue in the face.”

Johnson, 37, has skated in 1,187 career regular-season games, so he’s seen a few things. He’s never seen anyone quite like his teammate.

“It’s as good as it gets,” he said.

“I think he’s the best defenceman in the league, the way he skates, he’s bigger than people think, he’s got a mean streak, but his skating and skill and everything separates him from everyone else. He does some things you can’t teach. For the most part, he just skates better than everyone else and with his size and everything, he’s pretty unique.”

AROUND THE GLASS:

How important is home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup playoffs? It hasn’t been a huge deal so far in the Western Conference, with visiting teams winning five of the first eight games heading into Friday night’s action. It’s been a slightly different story in the East, visitors only winning three of 10 so far.

It will be interesting to see how the Jets-Avalanche series plays out. After splitting in Winnipeg, Games 3 and 4 are at Ball Arena where Colorado went an NHL-best 31-9-1. However, two of those nine losses came against Winnipeg, which won 25 games in enemy territory this season, third-best in the NHL.

Something’s gotta give.

“I think every game is a new challenge, especially in the playoffs. It’s completely different than the regular season,” Jets centre Mark Scheifele said of the recent past.

“But obviously we know we have the confidence in how we’ve played in this building and how we’ve felt. We’re still going up against a good team. Obviously it’s going to be a different animal being in the playoffs. But we’re excited to take that challenge in stride and obviously we know it’s going to be a great atmosphere out there. So we’re looking forward to it.”

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There’s an old saying that defence wins championships. With 20 goals through the first two games, it would appear the Jets and Avalanche have been all about offence.

Are these two talented teams simply not capable of playing a tight-checking, low-event affair?

“It’s hard to predict,” said Bednar. “Around the league, you think that the games are going to be hard-fought, low scoring, and I thought both those games played in Winnipeg were hard-fought and high intensity. But good players are making plays. Even though both teams are defending hard and doing the right things structurally, there’s still been some breakdowns and guys have been capitalizing on that. So it’s hard to predict. Certainly, we have some things that we want to clean up on the defensive side of it, but at the same time we want to keep doing what we’re doing on the offensive side and building off that. You just never know; you’ve gotta play the game the way it’s presented in front of you and some nights they take a turn that you weren’t expecting.”

There’s certainly no shortage of firepower in both lineups, which is helping fuel the fireworks.

“The players are dictating what’s going on out there, they’re all engaged, they’re all playing hard,” said Jets coach Rick Bowness.

“Listen, it’s the most explosive team in the league and they’re going to create their chances. We have to make sure we do our best to minimize them and obviously take care of the puck when we get it and create a little bit more.”

***

Still on the subject of famous phrases, “pressure makes diamonds” is a popular one to describe how a little adversity can go a long way. Bowness certainly believes that when it comes to his hockey club, which he believes is a resilient bunch.

“We go back to the first day of training camp. Our players came in with the right frame of mind and they knew they had something to prove, they knew they had to be better. And that’s the attitude we played the whole year with,” he said Friday.

“When things didn’t go our way, we lost a couple in a row, we bounced back pretty quickly because of that resiliency and because of that commitment. So the team’s far more committed for 82 games, playing the right way, how we want to play, than we were last year. Far more committed to that. And it showed, so that when we got into a couple of bad spells we came out of it, a little quicker than normal. And sometimes you come out of it but you’re still not playing well. But we always came out of those bad spells playing well. So that goes back to the commitment the players have had from Day 1.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg