Rookie Cale Makar is primed to be the next Avs superstar

Happy birthday, Cale Makar.

OK, so it’s a day early. Technically the Colorado Avalanche rookie turns 21 years old on Wednesday.

Coincidentally, that’ll be the final game of his first month of regular season hockey in the NHL — not an insignificant fact considering two more assists against the Florida Panthers and he’ll tie the franchise record for most assists (11) by an Avs rookie defenseman.

It almost seems like ages ago that the fresh-faced Makar made his splash into the NHL during the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, wherein he scored on his first shot in his first game against his hometown Calgary Flames.

It was the first time a defenseman in league history to score a playoff goal in his debut.

Not bad, considering Makar had signed his entry-level deal with Colorado the previous day (April 14). The day before that, he led his UMass Minutemen in the NCAA Frozen Four final.

Oh, and on April 12, he won the Hobey Baker Award as the country’s top collegiate hockey player.

A few months before that, Makar helped Canada’s under-20 team win gold in the World Junior Championships. He was the only Canadian named to the All-Tournament Team.

If he wanted, Makar had a spot on Canada’s Olympic team for the PyeongChang, but he “respectfully declined” in order to focus on the remainder of his collegiate season.

He was on the Hockey East All-Rookie Team in 2018 and the conference’s First-All Star Team in 2019. He was a First Team All-American as well, along with the CHN Player of the Year, New England Player of the Year, USCHO Player of the Year, UMass Male Athlete of the Year, and led all defensemen in the NCAA in scoring.

No. This is not a CV for Cale Makar. It’s an exercise in self-humiliation, as most of us by age 21 had only learned how to power through an 8 a.m. course with a hangover.

More importantly, though, Makar is making a real difference at his young age on an Avalanche team that’s taking the NHL by storm in 2019-’20.

Makar scored his first goal on Friday in a blowout win over the Vegas Golden Knights and followed it up with arguably the best game of his short career against the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday (which included this nifty exhibition of skating).

The Avs have their superstars in Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabe Landeskog, sure. But watch out for No. 8 for the burgundy and blue.

It’s not often you get to watch greatness unfold before your eyes.

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