Connect with us

Published

on

Cale Makar can’t quite comprehend how, after just four NHL seasons, he’s being compared to perhaps the greatest defenseman in hockey history.

Wayne Gretzky said Makar is “the closest player we’ve ever seen offensively and defensively” to Boston Bruins legend Bobby Orr. Vegas Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy told “The Cam and Strick” podcast this month that Makar is “a modern-day Bobby Orr” and one of the toughest players in the league to game plan against.

“Those are crazy comments. To be compared to a guy like that is crazy,” Makar told ESPN last week. “It’s hard for me to comprehend that. I’m 24. The amount that he accomplished in his career is pretty much insurmountable. I’m nowhere near that point yet. Obviously, a comparison is a comparison. But for me, [I’m] just kind of bringing it down to Earth a little bit.”

The comparison exists because of their dominant play and the accolades they earned. Orr was NHL rookie of the year. So was Makar. Orr was nominated for the Norris Trophy in each of his first four seasons. Makar has been a finalist in his past three, winning it in 2021-22. He won the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP that season too, becoming the youngest defenseman to do so since Orr in 1970.

“Anytime you’re compared to somebody like that, obviously you’re humbled,” Makar said. “But at the same time, I just feel like I’ve almost done nothing yet here. I’m still so young.”

This month, Makar added another accomplishment to his ever-growing list: He’s the cover athlete for “NHL 24,” the latest title from EA Sports in its hugely popular hockey video game series. The latest edition is expected to be released this October, with a slew of new innovations in gameplay.

“It’s so cool. When they were considering me to be a part of this, it was just kinda like a ‘wow’ moment. You grow up, you play all these games,” Makar said.


GROWING UP IN Calgary, Makar remembers Flames Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla making the cover. The first EA Sports NHL game Makar really got into was in 2007, when Alex Ovechkin was the face of the game.

Being on the cover of “NHL 24” has been a good excuse for Makar to get reacquainted with his inner gamer. He said he played a lot of video games during the NHL’s COVID-impacted 2021-22 season, when everyone briefly became an indoor kid. He plays here and there during the Avalanche season, and he has teammates who are gamers; Nathan MacKinnon has streamed his “Fortnite” exploits on Twitch, for example.

But as an EA Sports cover athlete, “it’ll definitely be cool to get back into it, as I feel like I kind of have to play it now,” he said.

Makar is just the third defenseman in the past 20 years to make the cover of the game, along with Dion Phaneuf (“NHL 09”) and P.K. Subban (“NHL 19”).

“Geez, I didn’t actually realize that until now,” Makar said. “I feel like there’s definitely a lot more D-men that could be on the cover. We’ll make a run at it here, I think.”

Makar is the most decorated member of a wave of young, talented defensemen that includes 25-year-old Adam Fox (New York Rangers), who won the Norris in 2021 and finished ahead of Makar in this year’s voting; 24-year-old Miro Heiskanen (Dallas Stars); 23-year-olds Rasmus Dahlin (Buffalo Sabres) and Quinn Hughes (Vancouver Canucks); 22-year-old Moritz Seider (Detroit Red Wings); and the other elder statesmen of the group, 25-year-olds Charlie McAvoy (Boston Bruins) and Mikhail Sergachev (Tampa Bay Lightning).

“[Cale] is a massively successful player already at such a young part of his career. We feel he’s the kind of player that no matter who you support, you can’t help but appreciate what he brings to the ice,” said Mike Inglehart, senior design director at EA Sports and one of the architects of the “NHL 24” edition. “There was a natural fit to not just what he’s accomplished and what people appreciate about him as a player, but also how he embodies some of the features in our gameplay.”


MAKAR’S 2021-22 SEASON was one of the best for a defenseman in recent NHL history. He registered 86 points in 77 games and led the Avalanche to the Stanley Cup title with 29 points in 20 playoff games.

But defending that championship proved difficult for the Avalanche thanks to personnel changes and a swath of injuries, including a hip ailment for Makar that he has nursed this offseason. They won the Central Division again but were eliminated in the first round by the Seattle Kraken.

“We had the pieces where we could have made another good run at it. It was just a tough season for injuries, myself included,” he said. “We just kept sputtering out of the game. There were times when we felt really confident as a team, but at the same time we never really got everybody back to 100 percent. We never felt like we were the super-confident group like we were the year before.”

Makar believes the lineup absences undermined the Avs’ season. “At one point we had eight or nine call-ups in the lineup. We’re fortunate that we have really good depth, but when you’re switching around lines that much, it gets pretty mentally draining for a lot of guys, having to learn new tactics and things like that,” he said.

In his ruminations about the dark clouds of last season, Makar eventually landed on a silver lining. The Avalanche played a lot of hockey en route to winning the Stanley Cup. They had to grind through adversity to make the playoffs in 2022-23. Maybe a brief postseason was, in some way, what they needed.

“At the end of the day, I think it was kind of a blessing in disguise,” Makar said. “It was a long year. Hopefully everybody can use that to our advantage this season.”

The Avalanche retooled a bit this offseason, bringing in former Lightning forward Ross Colton, former New Jersey Devils winger Miles Wood and former Montreal Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin, among others. The biggest move they made is the one Makar is excited about: center Ryan Johansen, acquired from the Nashville Predators. While his offensive numbers have dropped over time, Johansen remains well above average on faceoff winning percentage — in particular finding ways to snap the puck back to his defensemen at the blue line in the attacking zone.

Makar admits he has gotten on teammates for “not winning draws as much as we should be.” He sees Johansen’s abilities on faceoffs akin to those of Nazem Kadri, whose departure from the Avalanche in 2022 left a hole at No. 2 center that Johansen will attempt to fill.

“It’s fun to have a guy like that because I feel like winning faceoffs is a huge, overlooked part of the game,” he said. “If you can grab that possession right away, you’re gonna control the first 30 seconds of play.”


ANOTHER CHANGE IN the Colorado lineup is on the blue line: Erik Johnson, the 35-year-old veteran who helped mentor Makar, moved on to the Sabres.

Johnson was a veteran voice in the locker room. So is captain Gabriel Landeskog, who is expected to miss the 2023-24 season after knee surgery. That’s a lot of leadership leaving the Colorado locker room this season. Will Makar become a more vocal leader in their absence?

“I think to be a leader, there has to be a vocal aspect of it. I’m definitely a more reserved guy, but I’ll talk when things need to be said,” Makar said. “I feel like this year was a big learning curve for me.”

Landeskog missed all of the 2022-23 season as well, despite some moments when it appeared he might return to the lineup.

“A guy like Landy … everybody leans on him. So everybody took that extra weight on their shoulders — me, Nate, Mikko [Rantanen] and others,” said Makar. “Coming into this season, knowing that Landy is going to be out for the entire year, I think we’re more prepared and ready for that. I’m confident that everybody’s going to take another big step in leadership.”

Makar has kept an eye on NHL offseason news — in particular the recent trade that saw 2022-23 Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson move from the San Jose Sharks to the Pittsburgh Penguins in an intricate transaction that also involved the Canadiens.

“That was a crazy trade. Guys from the team were texting and were like, ‘Wow, that’s a lot of moving pieces.’ It must have been one of the biggest trades in NHL history,” Makar said. “You obviously have two [talented] guys there now with [Kris] Letang and Karlsson. It’ll be interesting to see that dynamic because you have two righties in the back that are so, so good. I’m excited to watch that team. When you put their stars up front like that and you have the back-end talent, they’ll be a fun team to watch.”

Like so many other young Canadians, Makar remembers watching Penguins star Sidney Crosby score the “Golden Goal” to win the 2010 Winter Olympic men’s ice hockey tournament in Vancouver. Crosby will be 38 years old when the 2026 Winter Olympics are held in Italy, marking what could potentially be his third appearance in the tournament. Makar hasn’t yet had the honor of representing Canada at the Olympics or at the World Cup of Hockey, which also could return in the next few years.

He’s excited for the chance, provided NHL players participate in the Olympics for the first time since the 2014 Sochi Games.

“Everybody wants a best-on-best [tournament]. To be part of international events again would be huge for the league,” Makar said. “Hopefully we can figure something out. Because it would be super exciting.”

Exciting for Makar, as he could potentially accomplish something his “rival” Bobby Orr never did: winning Olympic gold. Exciting for hockey fans, who could see Makar playing with and against the best in the world, giving the “NHL 24” cover athlete yet another achievement to add to his own hockey legend.

Continue Reading

Sports

Ohtani takes Miz deep but phenom fans 12 in win

Published

on

By

Ohtani takes Miz deep but phenom fans 12 in win

MILWAUKEE — Shohei Ohtani greeted Jacob Misiorowski with a leadoff homer, but the Milwaukee Brewers‘ rookie phenom got the last word.

After giving up Ohtani’s 431-foot blast, Misiorowski responded with another dominant outing. He struck out a career-high 12 batters — including two-way superstar Ohtani in the third inning — to lead the Brewers to a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night.

“It’s Shohei Ohtani,” Misiorowski said. “You kind of expect [that]. It’s cool to see him do it in action, but it fires me up even more coming back the next at-bat and striking him out. I’m right there. I think it was a moment of like, ‘OK, now we go.'”

Misiorowski, whose fastball routinely tops 100 mph, threw an 88.2 mph curveball on an 0-2 count to Ohtani, who crushed it for his 31st homer. That’s the most by a Dodgers player before the All-Star break.

It was the 21st career leadoff homer for the three-time MVP, who struck out swinging on a curveball in the third and walked to start the sixth. That was the only walk given up by Misiorowski, who scattered four hits.

“Really good stuff, aggressive in the zone,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “But what really stood out to me was his command and control.”

Misiorowski outdueled three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw, who surpassed 3,000 career strikeouts in his previous outing. Asked Monday about his matchup with Misiorowski, Kershaw said he only knew that the 6-foot-7 right-hander threw hard.

“I know him now, huh?” Kershaw said Tuesday. “That was super impressive. That was unbelievable. It was really special. Everything. Obviously the velo, but he’s got four pitches, commands the ball. I don’t know how you hit that, honestly. That’s just really tough.”

Misiorowski was glad to get Kershaw’s attention.

“I saw something online that he didn’t now who I was, so I hope he knows me now,” Misiorowski said. “It’s kind of cool.”

In five starts since the Brewers called him up from the minors, Misiorowski has already beaten Kershaw and 2024 NL Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes. In another outing, Misiorowski carried a perfect game into the seventh inning.

“He’s just broken the shell,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “He’s just out of the egg, all arms and legs. He’s still got gooey stuff coming off, you can see it, all arms and legs, but there’s something special about him.”

The numbers would indicate as much. Misiorowski is 4-1 with a 2.81 ERA and has given up only 12 hits in 25⅔ innings.

He topped out at 101.6 mph and threw 20 pitches of at least 100 on Tuesday. He also threw 19 curveballs after using curves only 10% of the time before Tuesday.

He was coming off his only shaky performance, giving up five runs — including a grand slam by Brandon Nimmo — and three walks over 3⅔ innings Wednesday in a 7-3 loss to the New York Mets.

It looked as if it might be more of the same after Ohtani went deep. Misiorowski responded by striking out 12 of the next 16 batters.

“I think that’s my job, is to figure it out on the fly,” he said. “I feel like I did it tonight.”

He got out of a jam in the sixth. The Dodgers trailed 2-1 and had runners on second and third with one out, but third baseman Andruw Monasterio fielded a grounder and threw out Ohtani at the plate, and Misiorowski retired Michael Conforto on a grounder.

Misiorowski pumped his fist as he headed toward the dugout, then watched the Brewers’ bullpen nail down the win.

“It’s so satisfying,” Misiorowski said. “It’s just a dream come true, to do what I did.”

Continue Reading

Sports

Giants walk off on Bailey’s inside-the-park homer

Published

on

By

Giants walk off on Bailey's inside-the-park homer

SAN FRANCISCO — Patrick Bailey hit a three-run, inside-the-park home run with one out in the ninth inning, lifting the San Francisco Giants to a 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night.

Bailey became just the third catcher in MLB history to hit a walk-off, inside-the-park home run, joining the Chicago Cubs’ Pat Moran in 1907 and the Washington Nationals’ Bennie Tate in 1926.

Bailey’s homer would have been an outside-the-park home run in 29 of 30 ballparks, with Oracle Park being the exception.

Mike Yastrzemski reached base twice and scored to help the Giants to their sixth win in seven games.

Casey Schmitt began the rally with a leadoff double. After Jung Hoo Lee popped out, Wilmer Flores lined a single to center.

Bailey, who grounded into a double play and struck out in two of his previous at-bats, then smashed a 1-0 fastball from Jordan Romano (1-4) into right-center field that ricocheted off the brick part of the wall.

Ryan Walker (2-3) retired one batter, with two on in the top of the ninth, to earn the win.

Phillies All-Star Kyle Schwarber had two hits, including his team-leading 28th home run.

Schwarber flew out, struck out and was hit by a pitch before homering off Giants reliever Spencer Bivens into McCovey Cove. Brandon Marsh, who singled as a pinch hitter leading off the inning, scored on the play.

Two days after being named an All-Star for the second time in his career, Robbie Ray gave up four hits and one run in 5⅔ innings.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Continue Reading

Sports

Mets’ Mendoza: Snubbed Soto ‘an All-Star for us’

Published

on

By

Mets' Mendoza: Snubbed Soto 'an All-Star for us'

BALTIMORE — The New York Mets consider Juan Soto to be a bona fide All-Star, despite the snub he received from those who selected the National League squad for the Midsummer Classic on July 15.

Soto, in his first year with the Mets, has performed well enough to earn the respect of his manager and teammates. In their opinion, he’s deserving of a place in the All-Star Game next week in Atlanta.

“He’s an All-Star for us,” manager Carlos Mendoza said Tuesday night after the Mets beat Baltimore 7-6. “It’s frustrating, but I’m hoping in the next couple of days we hear something and he makes it.”

Soto drove in the winning run with a sharp single on the first pitch of the 10th inning. That capped a night in which he went 3 for 5 to raise his batting average to .269 with 21 homers and 52 RBIs.

Soto has walked 72 times, by far the most in the majors, but he can also lash out at a pitcher when necessary.

“He’s got a pretty good understanding of what the pitchers are trying to do to him,” Mendoza said. “There is his awareness of the game, he’s going to see pitchers. There are times when he’s going to be aggressive. Tonight was one of those nights. First pitch in the 10th, he’s attacking.”

Soto made the All-Star team as a member of the Nationals, Padres and Yankees each year since 2021. The streak appears to be over. But his teammates believe he deserves to go.

“What he done all year is just incredible, and the results are good enough,” Mets starting pitcher Clay Holmes said. “The consistency he’s showed up with, at the at-bats he’s taken, is more than an All-Star. He’s one of the best in the game and a big part of our lineup.”

Soto seems rather philosophical about the snub.

“Sometimes, you’re going to make it and sometimes you don’t,” he told reporters after Sunday’s loss to the Yankees. “It’s just part of baseball.”

Continue Reading

Trending