Cale Makar

Cale Douglas Makar (born October 30, 1998) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a defenceman and alternate captain for the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected with the fourth overall pick by the Avalanche in the 2017 NHL entry draft.

After two seasons in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) with the UMass Minutemen, Makar debuted in the NHL during the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs. Playing his first full season in 2019–20, he made an immediate impact and won the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year. In his second professional season he was nominated for the James Norris Memorial Trophy, awarded to the league's best defenceman, and won the Norris in the following 2021–22 season; he later won a second Norris in the 2024–25 season, in his fifth nomination. Makar won the Stanley Cup with the Avalanche in 2022, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the 2022 playoffs. He has been widely cited as one of the best defencemen and best players in the modern NHL.

Internationally, Makar has played for Canadian junior team, winning gold at the 2018 World Junior Championships. With the senior national team he won gold at the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off and silver at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Makar, a Calgary native, first played within the Crowchild Blackhawks minor-hockey program before moving to play with the Northwest Calgary Athletic Association (NWCAA) Bruins at the Bantam level in 2011. He also played bantam with the Calgary Flames before moving to minor midget with the NWCAA Stampeders. Makar was originally drafted at the major junior level by the Western Hockey League (WHL)'s Medicine Hat Tigers in the eighth round, 164th overall, of the 2013 WHL Bantam Draft.

Having returned to the Calgary Flames for the minor midget level, in his only full season with the club in 2014–15, Makar led the team in scoring with 23 points in 34 league games, being named the team's Most Valuable Player and selected to the Alberta Midget Hockey League First All-Star Team. To retain his NCAA eligibility, Makar joined as an affiliate player to the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) at the tail end of the season, recording five points in three regular season games. In helping the Bandits reach the finals, Makar was third among defenceman in scoring with 7 points in 20 games. Having agreed to return with the Bandits in the forthcoming seasons, Makar announced his commitment to play collegiate hockey with the University of Massachusetts Amherst of the Hockey East NCAA conference on August 29, 2015.

As a 17-year-old, Makar established himself as a standout defenceman with the Bandits in 2015–16, logging 55 points in 54 games, en route to earning AJHL All-League and All-Rookie recognition. He scored 14 points in 13 games to help the Bandits claim the AJHL championship. His productive season collected AJHL and CJHL Rookie of the Year Awards, the Western Canada Cup Top Defenceman Award, and the RBC Cup Top Defenceman, Top Scorer and Most Valuable Player awards.

Makar sustained and built upon his previous success in the 2016–17 season to lead all defencemen and finished sixth among all skaters in the AJHL with 75 points (24 goals and 51 assists) in 54 games, collecting the league's MVP and top defenceman accolades. He had 16 points in 13 playoff games to help Brooks to a second straight AJHL championship and six points in five games to help the Bandits to a second-place finish in the Royal Bank Cup. He was chosen as the RBC Cup Top Defenceman and Most Valuable Player, the first player to ever be named RBC Cup MVP in back-to-back seasons. He received the CJHL Most Valuable Player Award and won the prestigious RBC National Junior A Player of the Year Award.

Through Makar's rapid rise up the rankings before the 2017 NHL entry draft, he was considered a top prospect and one of the top defencemen available. He was described as a dynamic skater that creates offence whenever he is on the ice. Makar was ultimately selected fourth overall by the Colorado Avalanche, the second defenceman selected in the draft, after third overall selection Miro Heiskanen. Makar became the highest-drafted player to come straight from the AJHL, and just the second in the first round since Joe Colborne in 2008.