Will Cale bail if his upper body fails?
Not bloody likely.
“What do you say to fans who are freaked out about Cale Makar’s health right now?” I asked defenseman Sam Malinski after the Avalanche practiced Tuesday at Ball Arena.
To this, Malinski gave a considered pause.
“I mean, I don’t know,” the young D-man replied. “I don’t know what to tell them.
“Obviously, it’d be great to have him out here. Can’t replace him, and we’re going to miss him out there. Yeah, hopefully we can still get it done without him.”
Wait.
Without him?
“Any concerns with Cale?” coach Jared Bednar was asked later.
“No, not yet,” Bedsy said.
Hang on.
Not … yet?
Round and round we go.
The truth probably lies, as it often does, somewhere in the middle.
Makar didn’t skate on Tuesday morning. Then again, he hasn’t skated most mornings this month — and he played in every game of the Minnesota series regardless. You’d expect he’ll go — or try to — in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup’s Western Conference Finals against Vegas on Wednesday night.
On the other hand, your eyes don’t lie. The legs look as spry as fudge and twice as sweet. Everything above them
Bad Shoulder? Bum hip? Both? Neither? Makar may be part cyborg, but even the tightest machines can’t hide a busted axle. Every round for No. 8 right now feels like a roll of the dice.
“I mean, you’re probably looking at a smaller list of (who’s) not hurting,” Avs goalie Scott Wedgewood told me earlier this week. “But that’s the joy of this, right?
“I watched Tampa go through this in the (COVID-19) bubble, and same thing — everyone was wrapping it up and going and playing, and that was how you went about it. Game starts, adrenaline takes over for most of the stuff. Which is beneficial for most guys.”
Without naming names, basketball guys tend to make business decisions at this time of year as much as they do team ones. Puckheads? Puckheads go.
The NHL’s bushido, , says you play for a ring now that you’ve come this far — no matter what it takes.
The perfect example of that stared back at us Tuesday, as he does at every morning skate. Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog likely cost himself, and his career, at least three years by playing hurt throughout the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs. But the bling was worth it.
The Avs promised to take care of him, to stand by his contract, through thin and thinner. In hindsight, 2023-25 without O Captain, My Captain was one long, weird, winding road. Yet the Avalanche are halfway to the promised land again.
Makar is eligible for a contract extension on July 1. He’s earned the right to be the highest-paid D-man in the world. The Avs have to hold up to him the same promises they did for Landy four years ago while he played through pain to get this franchise a parade. Especially if Makar’s ’26-27 season is delayed, as it very well might be, by surgery.
“I mean, there’s no one with any injury (who’s) stepping out of a shooting lane or anything (because they’re hurt),” Wedgewood continued. “It’s been engraved in (us), and it’s been a whole 20-man roster, every night, doing the job.”
If you’re to keep Makar on a pitch count, at least general manager Chris MacFarland gave Bednar alternatives. Whenever someone on the blue line has gone down over the last four weeks, another D-man has stepped forward to fill the gap. Brent Kulak in Game 5 of the Minnesota series. Brent Burns in Game 4. Malinsky in the Kings series.
Makar’s quiet partner, Devon Toews, has played as well this postseason as he has since the magic carpet ride of four years ago. Per HockeyStatCards.com, which grades players nightly,
Or maybe we just notice it more when Toews isn’t there. Especially on the penalty kill, such as when he went to the box early in Game 3 against the Wild, giving Minnesota a 4-on-3 power play and a 2-0 lead.
“I feel like for the coaches or the team, there’s not a lot of times where I’m sitting there, and it’s like, ‘OK, there’s 2 minutes left, and who’s on the ice?'” Wedgewood said. “It’s always just this: ‘Whoever’s out here, I trust my teammates.’ But when you have certain players out there that do a job so well and then also produce and also be a presence in the room and everything — there’s just a level to that, obviously, that certain people can do. And (Toews has) been one of them that’s done it all year.”
In mid-May, just about everyone’s dragging a body part that could use a month of rest. When Makar’s out there sacrificing 2027 and 2028 for a ring in 2026, it’s on the rest of the room to shoulder the load.
“I mean, I don’t know if pressure is the right word,” Malinski said. “We’re all going to have to play a little bit more and we’ll be challenged with different situations — I might have to penalty kill or whatever it is. But, yeah, I wouldn’t say we feel pressure. We’re just going to have to step up.”
You don’t lift Lord Stanley unless everybody’s pulling on the same rope. Even if it’s only with one arm.
