The Avalanche’s blue line has been the most dominant in the NHL since 2020

The Colorado Avalanche became the fifth team in NHL history to lead the NHL in points scored by defensemen for at least five consecutive years

BY TRENT FINNEGAN

Apr 18, 2025, 1:07 PM

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Watch: Why haven't the Avs gotten a deal done with Cale Makar? | Stokley and Evans with Mark Schlereth | 1 min

Getting scoring contributions from the blue line is what can take NHL teams to the next level offensively. The Colorado Avalanche, led by Cale Makar, have gotten good offensive production from their defensemen since the start of the decade, as this season was the fifth consecutive year in which the burgundy and blue led the NHL in points scored by defensemen.

The @Avalanche led all teams in scoring from the blueline for the 5th consecutive season with 211 points (54g/157a). Avs are just the 5th team in @NHL history to have the highest-scoring blueline for 5 consecutive seasons and the first since the Flames from 1986-87 to 1990-91 pic.twitter.com/cTz740OV3l

— Brendan McNicholas (@bmcnich) April 18, 2025

The Avalanche had 211 of the team’s points come from the blue line this year. That number was 243 in 2024, 220 in 2023, 238 in 2022 and 147 in 2021 (the Avs only played 56 games due to a shortened season in 2021).

While Makar draws the most attention, as he recently became the first d-man in 16 years to score 30 goals in a season, this unit of defenseman scored 119 points outside of him this season. Devon Toews had 44, Sam Girard had 24, and Sam Malinski and Josh Manson had 15 apiece. Toews has finished in the top-20 in defenseman points in three of the last five seasons (in the other two, he was 21st and 22nd).

While the defensemen have been getting it done on the offensive side of the floor, the Avalanche have also been productive in the defensive zone of the ice. Of the 33 defensive pairings who have played at least 650 minutes together, Makar and Toews rank 10th in expected goals against. They were 12th in that category a season ago, first in 2023, seventh in 2022 and second in 2021 (qualifying time is 350 minutes in 2021 due to the shortened season).

In three of the last four seasons, Makar has been in the top-two amongst defensemen in points scored in the regular season. In the one season he wasn’t, he still managed to finish in ninth despite missing 22 games due to injury. He won the James Norris Trophy in 2022 along with the Conn Smythe, and is currently poised to win another Norris for his efforts this year after being voted by his peers as the best in the league.

It’s easy to take these accomplishments for granted when teams have successful stretches for this long. What Makar, Toews and the rest of the defensive unit are able to do on a night-to-night basis is not normal by any means, but since they’ve been doing it for so long, it just seems normal at this point to Avalanche fans.