Cale Makar makes history joins exclusive lost with Bobby Orr and Nik Lidstrom
When Cale Makar was drafted 4th overall by the Colorado Avalanche in 2017 out of Alberta's most notorious Junior A program, the Brook's Bandits, I'm sure a lot of people were scratching their heads. Junior A is known as the route to play college or university hockey in Canada, not an avenue to the National Hockey League. Of course there are some NHL players to come out of the lower ranks ( like Zack Hyman) , but none the calibre of Makar, who because of the route he chose, had his doubters to begin his road to the NHL.
Fast forward 4 years into his NHL career and he has become one of the most dominant 2 way defenders in the NHL today, capped of by helping the Avs win this years Stanley Cup, but that's not where his accolades end.
Winning a Stanley cup and being named the Conn Smythe award winner unanimously is one way to cap off his 4th year in the league.
https://twitter.com/wyshynski/status/1541278450564079618?s=21&t=foVuKRP2qBq98yFEOMrEZQ
Makar has had quite a few trophies his last 4 years of hockey. He started it off by winning the Hobey Baker award on 2019 as college hockey's best player, he then won the 2020 Calder Trophy as the best rookie in the NHL and now he adds the 2022 Stanley Cup and 2022 Conn Smythe award.
The scary part, the kid is only 23. He's got a long way to go in his career, but early indications are that he is destined for the hall of fame when all is said and done.
Oh, and to top it all off, after his stellar season, he joins this exclusive list:
| POLL | ||
Will Cale Makar end up as a top defender of all time? | ||
| Yes, top 5 | 182 | 55 % |
| Yes, top 10 | 105 | 31.7 % |
| No, he's peaked already | 44 | 13.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
