In reply to: I just found out Makar scored in his NHL debut posted by DakotaDomer
of course, once the NHL gets some video on him he'll have his rough spots. Which is fine because they all do. His instinct is to jump into the play and the style of the Avs' F will result in the occasional empty house back there. You probably don't want him on a pairing with Barrie, for example. For some reason Calgary was stumbling around during the last month of the season and looked far from the second best team in the NHL during the first round. My guess is that SJS will be a better possession team than Calgary was. We'll see ....
But he's incredibly polished and at least a cut or two above Barrie as a defender (who unlike seemingly the majority of Avs fans I like and appreciate for what he is). I don't know how much you saw of the their series (am I miss-remembering or didn't you used to live in Boulder - seems like you're in Boston now, maybe I have the wrong poster) but Bednar has actually gone YOLO and played Makar and Barrie together already, in OT no less. Scared me a little. Girard was back in a regular sweater for practice today and Bednar had him and Makar on the 2nd PP unit with Girard QBing and Makar on the left circle where he was in college. For the Calgary series Makar was QB up top on the 2nd unit while Girard recovered from the hit he took in Game 2.
Liked below is probably my favorite offensive play he's made so far. First he dangles Tkachuk and just about breaks his ankles, then dangles Lindholm; next could very likely have gone right to the net but has the vision and hands to get the puck to Landy for a nice chance. These are not scrubs he's doing this against. In OT of his second NHL game. Seeing him no longer have to carry a mediocre college team on his back is eye opening. I hate the overuse of the word 'special' these days but...
although I have climbed there - I've spent plenty of time in CO mostly down in Salida/Chaffee County or in Durango-Ouray-Silverton/San Juans. Those are trips down from Jackson or from here. There's no question about his skill set - I saw it in Hockey East and against us in the regional this year. I just think it's best to keep the meter turned down as he fits in and the NHLers get a feel for him. He really never got hit in NCAA - as we know, he will playing that position in the NHL. Smaller D take awhile to get used to what can happen to them in the corners. My guess is that he'll encounter more of that against SJS.