Cale Makar becomes the first Norris Trophy winner in Avalanche history

The NHL Awards took place tonight between Games 3 and 4 of the Stanley Cup Final.

The Colorado Avalanche weren’t heavily involved in most of the awards voting but the one major award an Av was a finalist was Cale Makar for the Norris Trophy. After finishing second last year behind Adam Fox, Makar barely squeaked by Nashville Predators defenseman Roman Josi to win it this season.

Makar is the first player in franchise history to win the award after second-place finishes by Makar (last year) and Ray Bourque (2000-01).

Just 23 years old, Makar is already on the path to being the Avalanche’s greatest defenseman in franchise history after consecutive top finishes for the Norris and his comically prolific start to his career.

With 86 points (28G, 58A) in 77 points, Makar finished second in defensemen in scoring this year behind only Roman Josi. The goals, assists, and points Makar finished with this year were all Avalanche records and his 58 assists were the second-most in franchise history.

Makar adds the career hardware to an already impressive list of accomplishments as he also won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie on 2019-20 when he beat Quinn Hughes. Makar also won the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey’s best player when his UMass Minutemen finished as the national runner-up in 2018-19. Makar also won a gold medal at the World Junior Championships with Canada in 2017-18.

While not an official “award”, Makar was also named to the NHL’s First All-Star team for the second straight season, becoming Colorado’s first defenseman to find his way there twice.

Hopefully not finished there, Makar is a frontrunner for the Conn Smythe Trophy if the Avalanche are able to win the Stanley Cup sometime in the next week.

In an extremely close vote, Makar actually finished with fewer first-place votes than Josi but got no votes beyond third place. It should also be noted that Makar’s partner, Devon Toews, finished eighth in the voting after an 11th-place finish last year.

For funsies, here’s Makar’s JFresh player card from this year versus Josi’s.