WJC: The Curious Case Of Cale Makar

[Statsy]

The playing time of Cale Makar has been a contentious issue throughout the whole tournament. Despite being the top offensive dman on the Canadian team, and one of the best two skaters, and seeming to dominate from camp through the exhibitions and well into the tournament, Makar found himself with among the least minutes of any defenseman on the team. The coach had mentioned that Makar had been shorted minutes in some of the earlier games as they hadn't selected him for PK duty, yet in the final game we were only short for a couple of minutes of the 60, and still he played a mere 8:31 while most of the other guy each got around 20 minutes (except Foote). I was the first guy to defend what they said at the time, but their own actions prove they were actually lying.

Weirder still is the fact that the team management named Makar one of the team's top three players! It's one thing if they had a different opinion from what the rest of us did the entire time, but the fact he was selected by them raises even more questions as to what the hell is going on. To put the cherry on top of this issue, Makar makes the All-Star team for the tournament... while getting sat. This is the strangest thing I may have ever seen as far as player selection goes.

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[oooooooooohCanada]

Reminds me of Matheson getting best D at the World Champs a couple years ago. He played less minutes in the semis and gold game combined than a guy like Rielly did in the gold medal game alone, yet was given top D.

 

[Freudian]

The coaches probably decided Mete, Fabbro and Clague were their guys way in advance and couldn't adjust properly. It's understandable with returnees and a guy with 27 NHL games.

What made no sense was feeding Bean the ice time he had through the tournament. He didn't play well at all.

With Canada winning the game with 2 minutes to go, it won't be a big deal. If they would have lost, not playing the highest scoring defender in the tournament and one of the players driving offense on the team would have been a very poor look for the coaching staff.

 

[hooverdam]

I was happy Canada won but kind of pissed Ducharme got rewarded for this. That was a game that very easily could've gone either way and he would've wanted Makar out there pushing offense if Sweden had scored that go-ahead goal instead.

It sucks to validate a playing mentality that is quickly becoming outdated in hockey everywhere. Canada was defending the entire game and capitalized on what few pushes they had. It could very easily have backfired on them and it would have been completely deserved.

 

[Statsy]

The coaches probably decided Mete, Fabbro and Clague were their guys way in advance and couldn't adjust properly. It's understandable with returnees and a guy with 27 NHL games.

What made no sense was feeding Bean the ice time he had through the tournament. He didn't play well at all.

With Canada winning the game with 2 minutes to go, it won't be a big deal. If they would have lost, not playing the highest scoring defender in the tournament and one of the players driving offense on the team would have been a very poor look for the coaching staff.

For all the hate Bean gets, he didn't play poorly at all. I can barely think of any glaring mistakes he made in the entire tourney. He mostly wasn't noticeable, which for a guy like Bean is a good thing, actually. With that said, you noticed Makar EVERY time he was on the ice, and almost all of it positive. Leading the rush, scoring goals, stripping opposing forwards of the puck, you name it. I really don't see what he did wrong.

 

[Colt.45Orr]

Lauzon got the same type of screw job (from the same coach) last year --didn't matter what he did, he couldn't buy more minutes.

 

[Balthazar]

Ducharme had a plan from day #1 and Makar wasn't part of that plan. There's no other explanation.

Edit: Last year Girard has been cut on the very last day while being told that he really was one of their best defensemen but wasn't what they were looking for at that moment. Same thing probably happened to Makar except they kept him as their 7th dman.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

For all the hate Bean gets, he didn't play poorly at all. I can barely think of any glaring mistakes he made in the entire tourney. He mostly wasn't noticeable, which for a guy like Bean is a good thing, actually. With that said, you noticed Makar EVERY time he was on the ice, and almost all of it positive. Leading the rush, scoring goals, stripping opposing forwards of the puck, you name it. I really don't see what he did wrong.

Makar also played more then Bean in the semi's and in the finals.

 

[General Zodd]

Makar by far the best D-Man in the tourney!

 

[JackSlater]

I don't know what was going on with Makar. I agree that his all star spot was like Matheson winning the World Championship best defenceman award while playing as Canada's sixth defenceman. It reminds me of Sanheim in 2016, when he came in with draft pedigree and a strong season, looked good when he played but still was used generally as seventh defenceman. 2016 was partially Lowry using Hicketts, the player he coached in the WHL, far above where he should have, but even that still didn't explain why Sanheim had to be seventh defenceman. I can accept that Lowry was an idiot (his issues went beyond playing Hicketts major minutes even when he was mostly bad) and one of the worst coaches that Canada has had at this tournament. Ducharme is a good coach though, so I don't know.

To Ducharme's credit he did adjust somewhat. Bean was horrible in the Finland game and saw his minutes reduced. Injuries struck and all of the healthy defencemen played, Makar included, but his minutes went down again once others returned. I don't know why Makar was played behind Foote for part of the tournament. I don't see why he was behind Clague, who had a bad tournament for Canada. I don't see why Fabbro returned but was pretty rusty and took most of the minutes that Makar had enjoyed while others were injured. Ducharme may be guilty of excessive loyalty to the returnees, but that doesn't explain it completely given that Bean's playing time correctly dropped and that Timmins, who started off not looking as good as Makar, consistently received a lot of playing time.

As has been said, I think that Makar just wasn't what Ducharme wanted. I don't know why he wasn't, but that's all I can think of. Coaches are stubborn generally, and Ducharme indicated before the tournament even started that he didn't plan to change his lineup much if at all.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

My biggest point of contention the entire time has been with the whole Makar situation and the sheer amount of complaining about Makar....Is what defensemen's minutes should he have been taking? I mean people will point to that he didn't have any glaring defensive mistakes, which is true(though he didn't exactly play the SHG well tonight) but he was never put in a position to have to handle defensive minutes. Who from the top 4 defensemen of Mete,Fabbro,Timmins and Clague played bad enough that they should have been bumped down for Makar at even strength? Because every one of those 4 had great games tonight.

 

[Balthazar]

Makar wasn't weak defensively, it's a stigma that came with his draft pedigree "he's a smaller offensive defenseman coming from a weaker league, therefore he must suck defensively".

Thing is, he isn't small or bad defensively. He's just an explosive defenseman.

 

[harrisb]

I haven’t seen the stats but there was far too much Formenton / Comtois out there, reminded me of the Sens, play not to lose rather than play to win. I’m a sens fan and didn’t like the repeated usage in this game.

After 3 HORRIBLE PP’s they finally decided to put Makar and Batherson out there. It was head scratching coaching all tourney. The issue all tourney with Batherson was he was the only one on his line with any finish. How they began the tournament solving this was to rotate him out with Steenberg as the 13th forward. They finally decided to put them together at the end and it worked.

Makar was our best D, Dube had his best game when it mattered and I’d say that Batherson may have been the best forward for Canada all tourney. HM to Timmins, he was awesome too

 

[Tobias Kahun]

My biggest point of contention the entire time has been with the whole Makar situation and the sheer amount of complaining about Makar....Is what defensemen's minutes should he have been taking? I mean people will point to that he didn't have any glaring defensive mistakes, which is true(though he didn't exactly play the SHG well tonight) but he was never put in a position to have to handle defensive minutes. Who from the top 4 defensemen of Mete,Fabbro,Timmins and Clague played bad enough that they should have been bumped down for Makar at even strength? Because every one of those 4 had great games tonight.

All of beans minutes, he is better than bean at everything, dont know about playing him in the Top 4 though.

 

[Statsy]

My biggest point of contention the entire time has been with the whole Makar situation and the sheer amount of complaining about Makar....Is what defensemen's minutes should he have been taking? I mean people will point to that he didn't have any glaring defensive mistakes, which is true(though he didn't exactly play the SHG well tonight) but he was never put in a position to have to handle defensive minutes. Who from the top 4 defensemen of Mete,Fabbro,Timmins and Clague played bad enough that they should have been bumped down for Makar at even strength? Because every one of those 4 had great games tonight.

None of those guys were particularly bad tonight. Though we did give up more shots than ususal, I still think we held them to few golden scoring chances. Yet not one of the guys you listed are as close to being the dynamic game-changer Makar is. So to answer your question, any of them should have their minutes cut to get Makar more.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

None of those guys were particularly bad tonight. Though we did give up more shots than ususal, I still think we held them to few golden scoring chances. Yet not one of the guys you listed are as close to being the dynamic game-changer Makar is. So to answer your question, any of them should have their minutes cut to get Makar more.

But my point is that Clague and Fabbro and Mete and Timmins were absolutely rock solid in there own end. The entire tournament. Clague had one rough game against Finland and Fabbro was clearly better the deeper into the tournament we got. Timmins and Mete to me were our two best defensemen tonight and it wasn't remotely close. Canada was able to keep Anderssen Petterson and Nylander completely off the board tonight. It just honestly seems like complaining about a successful coaching job to me. Makar was in a position to produce offensively and absolutely excelled the entire tournament. But I really feel like people have lost the bigger picture and didn't look at the job some of the other defensemen on the team actually did either.

 

[Mr Hockey]

I do not like the lack of ice time given to Makar in this tourney, this kid is Karlsson like, very impressed.

 

[Lemonlimey]

The coach had mentioned that Makar had been shorted minutes in some of the earlier games as they hadn't selected him for PK duty, yet in the final game we were only short for a couple of minutes of the 60, and still he played a mere 8:31 while most of the other guy each got around 20 minutes (except Foote). I was the first guy to defend what they said at the time, but their own actions prove they were actually lying.

stinks of politics somehow

 

[Statsy]

But my point is that Clague and Fabbro and Mete and Timmins were absolutely rock solid in there own end. The entire tournament. Clague had one rough game against Finland and Fabbro was clearly better the deeper into the tournament we got. Timmins and Mete to me were our two best defensemen tonight and it wasn't remotely close. Canada was able to keep Anderssen Petterson and Nylander completely off the board tonight. It just honestly seems like complaining about a successful coaching job to me. Makar was in a position to produce offensively and absolutely excelled the entire tournament. But I really feel like people have lost the bigger picture and didn't look at the job some of the other defensemen on the team actually did either.

But don't forget the original question I brought up. You see, if the coaching staff just thought that the other guys were better, then that would be fine, though I still would wonder why they thought that based on what we saw. HOWEVER, they selected our three best players and picked Makar over all of those guys (except Timmins, of course). So did they like him or not? The question remains.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

But my point is that Clague and Fabbro and Mete and Timmins were absolutely rock solid in there own end.

Come again? Clague has been awful for most of the tournament. I would love to see a giveaways stat. The number of times he turned the puck to the other team was out of this world. And there's no way you can justify him playing top PP minutes over Makar, who was deadly.

Anyway, the coach won his tournament, it's really tough to argue with his decisions.

 

[Pyromaniac]

To put it simply, Ducharme had more faith in the other defenseman on the roster to not concede goals. This isn't to say that Makar is terrible defensively but simply that the other defenseman had the coach's trust. I am sure Makar would have ended up with more ice time if Canada had been down a goal. I agree with you that he should have gotten more PP time than he did but even in this situation Ducharme opted to go with someone he trusted because Sweden looked dangerous on the PK and conceding the SHG probably did not help.

 

[sabresEH]

My biggest point of contention the entire time has been with the whole Makar situation and the sheer amount of complaining about Makar....Is what defensemen's minutes should he have been taking? I mean people will point to that he didn't have any glaring defensive mistakes, which is true(though he didn't exactly play the SHG well tonight) but he was never put in a position to have to handle defensive minutes. Who from the top 4 defensemen of Mete,Fabbro,Timmins and Clague played bad enough that they should have been bumped down for Makar at even strength? Because every one of those 4 had great games tonight.

Katchouk going for the big hit was thw mistake on that play(the shg that is).
Makar took away the pass. The swede just made a nice shot and beat Hart.

 

[SAK11]

I would've liked to see more of Makar but it was very much a good problem to have- 3 returnees and an NHL d-man, and none of those guys were even Canada's best at this tournament [Timmins]. You put it all together and what you had was a deep, reliable defensive group. Very impressed by Team Canada's defense this year; last year it was pretty much the Chabot show so it was nice to see the depth come up big this time around.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

I agree with you that he should have gotten more PP time than he did but even in this situation Ducharme opted to go with someone he trusted because Sweden looked dangerous on the PK and conceding the SHG probably did not help.

I can live with that, but the problem wasn't just with the last game. He had Clague on the first PP the whole tournament, and he really never showed anything to justify it - and he certainly didn't show any defensive superiority either (the last game was actually probably his best one). He went with the guy with more experience and stuck with it. In the end it worked out fine, so no worry.

 

[Dodospice]

While it’s strange that Makar was a top 3 player and didn’t get more ice time, it can make sense. Just because a guy was a top 3 player this tournament for the team doesn’t always mean he deserves to play more minutes. I’m surprised he didn’t but I can see how the team picked him as a top 3 player but wouldn’t commit to more ice time. A lot of it comes down to have comfortable the team is with the player and how much they trust him in all situations. Obviously Coach Ducharme and his staff didn’t trust him in all situations but it doesn’t change that he couldn’t be a top 3 player for the team. He played the role he was asked and played it exceptionally, deserving of a top 3 player? Most likely. Deserving of more ice time? Most likely as well but if you envision a player in a role and don’t think he can handle a different role competently, then it’s no use in asking him to play it. Play a guy to his strengths, not to his weaknesses and I think the staff did a good job of this all tournament.