Prospect Info: Cale Makar - D [4th Overall] Part II: #OrrIsTheFloor Edition

[Avsboy]

For PP2, I'd really like to see Graves given a chance, and have Girard or Timmins feeding him pucks to shoot. Bura can carry it in, and the other two guys can focus on screening the goalie, tipping pucks and puck retrieval. My vote would be Wilson and one of Donskoi, Compher or Jost in those roles.

If I've had one big complaints with the Avs powerplay, it's that there's been no attempt to have a big shot from the point as a weapon.

Timmins would be ideal. Graves is basically Nick Holden with much better skating.

 

[henchman21]

I for one think our PP1 and PP2 need to be run differently. PP1 can be the current setup based on getting the puck to Nate and having him either shoot or distribute it around for shots.

For PP2, I'd really like to see Graves given a chance, and have Girard or Timmins feeding him pucks to shoot. Bura can carry it in, and the other two guys can focus on screening the goalie, tipping pucks and puck retrieval. My vote would be Wilson and one of Donskoi, Compher or Jost in those roles.

If I've had one big complaints with the Avs powerplay, it's that there's been no attempt to have a big shot from the point as a weapon.

The NHL as a whole is going away from that idea. Only a select few teams ran a PP with a heavy point shot as an emphasis last year, betting we are down to at most 3, but likely 2 this year.

 

[The Kingslayer]

TBH I'm more concerned about his shot being enough of a threat right away. He's a lot further along with his shot than Tyson was when he broke into the NHL so I'm confident it'll get there sooner or later...but IMO the thing that was most responsible for our PP hitting that elite level it's been at recently, was Tyson learning how to get his shot through quickly & consistently.

Cale has the heaviness on his shot, the quick release, and the hands/feet to walk the line; it's just a question of how long it takes him to learn how to anticipate shooting lanes before the puck comes to him; so that his one-timer will be enough of a threat for teams to be forced to give MacK or Mikko space when Cale is the one getting tee'd up.

Good point. We will see soon enough whether or not that shot has improved over last season. Makar did get his shot blocked quite a bit I hope he finds a way to adjust to NHL shot blockers.

 

[cgf]

Good point. We will see soon enough whether or not that shot has improved over last season. Makar did get his shot blocked quite a bit I hope he finds a way to adjust to NHL shot blockers.

Yeah, it'll get there sooner or later. I just dunno if it'll be there this season or if that'll be one of the areas we have to suffer through some growing pains, in.

 

[mapletreemarty]

The NHL as a whole is going away from that idea. Only a select few teams ran a PP with a heavy point shot as an emphasis last year, betting we are down to at most 3, but likely 2 this year.

Doesn't that have to do with the analytics in the sport showing that the best way to score is by completing royal road passes...I read or heard somewhere that the NHL is turning into a fake shot-pass league.

 

[henchman21]

Doesn't that have to do with the analytics in the sport showing that the best way to score is by completing royal road passes...I read or heard somewhere that the NHL is turning into a fake shot-pass league.

There is a lot to go into it, but analytics are a big part of it going away.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Yeah, it'll get there sooner or later. I just dunno if it'll be there this season or if that'll be one of the areas we have to suffer through some growing pains, in.

Im anticipating some growing pains for sure. Its up to Cale and the coaching staff to figure it out and im confident they will. We cant afford to have an average special teams. Not in this division. I also hate the talking heads praising us. Everytime we get good press we have a shit season lol.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

I love how everyone complains about our PP.

“Stop doing that stupid drop pass”
“We need to change the setup Mackinnon is wasted that high in the zone”

Avs had the 7th best PP in the nhl last year and I don’t have access to the stats but Mike Kelly has a video in February or March showing how the Avs were the most successful zone entry team in the entire league on the pp.

Why do we complain about a zone entry that is more successful than litterally every other team and scores more goals than all but 6.

Teams have no way to adapt to Mackinnon’s zone entry. They’ve tried. They tried attacking early in the Avs zone as soon as Barrie dropped the puck but it lead to Mackinnon dancing the attacker leading to an easy 5 on 3 zone entry. They tried swarming Mackinnon in the neutral zone but it lead to Mackinnon handing it off to Landy on the boards for a successful entry. They tried backing off completely but It lead to Mackinnon easily gaining the zone with his own decision option of either carrying or passing to Landy on the boards.

Our zone entry is almost flawless. Stop complaining because you don’t like the look of the drop pass. There’s a stigma attached to it because it fails on so many other teams but it’s compeltely made for Nathan Mackinnon.

Hell, even Compher almost has it mastered on PP 2.

Replace Barrie with Makar, replace Kerfoot with Kadri and do everything else the same.

 

[henchman21]

Why do we complain about a zone entry that is more successful than litterally every other team and scores more goals than all but 6.

Because as fans we like to complain about something! I'm going to correct you a bit here though, the Avs were 7th in PP%, but 4th in goals only 2 behind Boston for 3rd (Florida was 9 ahead and Tampa was 11 ahead). The Avs power play last year was elite and it will be hard to replicate that sort of success losing a key cog. As long as the Avs stay in the 50+ PPG range, I'll be happy!

Fun stat of the day, on power play goal differential (PPG VS SHG given up) the Avs were 3rd in the NHL 1 behind Florida and 13 behind Tampa. Tampa's + 71 was the most in the NHL since the 09-10 Caps who also had +71 (08-09 Wings were +86).

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Because as fans we like to complain about something! I'm going to correct you a bit here though, the Avs were 7th in PP%, but 4th in goals only 2 behind Boston for 3rd (Florida was 9 ahead and Tampa was 11 ahead). The Avs power play last year was elite and it will be hard to replicate that sort of success losing a key cog. As long as the Avs stay in the 50+ PPG range, I'll be happy!

Fun stat of the day, on power play goal differential (PPG VS SHG given up) the Avs were 3rd in the NHL 1 behind Florida and 13 behind Tampa. Tampa's + 71 was the most in the NHL since the 09-10 Caps who also had +71 (08-09 Wings were +86).

Crazy. Plus like I said, the best zone entry team.

The biggest difficulty most teams have on a PP (aside from actually scoring) is effectively gaining the zone and setting up. The Avs are the best at this. More successful zone entries means more time in the offensive zone with the puck. Add that to the fact that Mackinnon, Makar, Rantanen, Landeskog and Kadri are the 5 players on the ice and the Avs have a pretty good opportunity to score a few goals.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

Crazy. Plus like I said, the best zone entry team.

The biggest difficulty most teams have on a PP (aside from actually scoring) is effectively gaining the zone and setting up. The Avs are the best at this. More successful zone entries means more time in the offensive zone with the puck. Add that to the fact that Mackinnon, Makar, Rantanen, Landeskog and Kadri are the 5 players on the ice and the Avs have a pretty good opportunity to score a few goals.

Agree with both of you about our PP. All that needs to be better with it is winning those faceoffs so we don't lose the first 20 secs of the PP retrieving the puck in our zone and finally getting setting up. Also they sometimes try to get a little to cute looking for the perfect play but besides that I love our PP.

 

[Balthazar]

There is a lot to go into it, but analytics are a big part of it going away.

Weber has the hardest shot from the point and Montreal's PP was dead last in the league last year. It's not his fault but yeah, this strategy isn't as effective as it once was.

 

[TheForsbergShow]

I am just looking forward to seeing Makar go coast to coast on the PP after he notices the PKers wait for the drop pass lol. It is bound to happen with his speed and skill

 

[Cousin Eddie]

I am just looking forward to seeing Makar go coast to coast on the PP after he notices the PKers wait for the drop pass lol. It is bound to happen with his speed and skill

I love how he almost scored a breakaway goal that began from the hashmarks in his own zone during pre season lol.

That’s one of the craziest things I saw with him last year in college. Dude legit gets breakaways. It’s not because he cheats either. He’s smart enough to read a play early and he’s faster than everyone else on the ice. Certainly won’t be a nightly occurnace in the NHL but it’ll definitely happen occasionally.

 

[TheForsbergShow]

I love how he almost scored a breakaway goal that began from the hashmarks in his own zone during pre season lol.

That’s one of the craziest things I saw with him last year in college. Dude legit gets breakaways. It’s not because he cheats either. He’s smart enough to read a play early and he’s faster than everyone else on the ice. Certainly won’t be a nightly occurnace in the NHL but it’ll definitely happen occasionally.

Ya won't happen every night but he seems to know when to pick his moments as long as it seems to be safe and not cost the team if he loses the puck. Even if he loses it he is still fast enough to get back lol.

His speed with Mack together is going to create a lot of space for everyone else. May not be immediate while he still learns but not many teams have been able to ice a forward/d combo with that sort of skating. Hell we already saw glimpses of it on his first goal when Mack backed up the dman and went wide for a easy pass back to Makar for a pretty open look.

 

[henchman21]

I love how he almost scored a breakaway goal that began from the hashmarks in his own zone during pre season lol.

That’s one of the craziest things I saw with him last year in college. Dude legit gets breakaways. It’s not because he cheats either. He’s smart enough to read a play early and he’s faster than everyone else on the ice. Certainly won’t be a nightly occurnace in the NHL but it’ll definitely happen occasionally.

Another factor in Makar getting those chances in college was the man defensive system UMass plays. He’d get chances to defend high in the zone and has a good stick to break up plays.

 

[Avs_19]

I don't know if the PP with be statistically better but I think there are areas where they improved and it could potentially lead to more success. Adding Kadri to the top unit is a big boost and he'll help on faceoffs as well. Landeskog isn't bad at all in that area but now they have two guys who can do it and they can be more aggressive.

It'll be tough for Makar to replace Barrie's production in year one but one area where I think he can be better is moving up the ice, whether that's skating it himself or with his stretch passes. It was tough enough to stop the entries as it is and it could be even tougher now with Makar as the other option with MacKinnon.

 

[b0rn2beWild]

I read the guy missed practise yesterday?
Still able to start the season or any thoughts why did he miss..?

 

[CobraAcesS]

I read the guy missed practise yesterday?
Still able to start the season or any thoughts why did he miss..?

Maintenance day/minor tweak

 

[Foppa Frossa]

injury prone

 

[The Kingslayer]

I love how everyone complains about our PP.

“Stop doing that stupid drop pass”
“We need to change the setup Mackinnon is wasted that high in the zone”

Avs had the 7th best PP in the nhl last year and I don’t have access to the stats but Mike Kelly has a video in February or March showing how the Avs were the most successful zone entry team in the entire league on the pp.

Why do we complain about a zone entry that is more successful than litterally every other team and scores more goals than all but 6.

Teams have no way to adapt to Mackinnon’s zone entry. They’ve tried. They tried attacking early in the Avs zone as soon as Barrie dropped the puck but it lead to Mackinnon dancing the attacker leading to an easy 5 on 3 zone entry. They tried swarming Mackinnon in the neutral zone but it lead to Mackinnon handing it off to Landy on the boards for a successful entry. They tried backing off completely but It lead to Mackinnon easily gaining the zone with his own decision option of either carrying or passing to Landy on the boards.

Our zone entry is almost flawless. Stop complaining because you don’t like the look of the drop pass. There’s a stigma attached to it because it fails on so many other teams but it’s compeltely made for Nathan Mackinnon.

Hell, even Compher almost has it mastered on PP 2.

Replace Barrie with Makar, replace Kerfoot with Kadri and do everything else the same.

Im a fan of of our zone entry. My issues with our PP is telegraphed passing at times and not enough movement. Our PP has been great ever since Tim Army left.

 

[The Kingslayer]

I don't know if the PP with be statistically better but I think there are areas where they improved and it could potentially lead to more success. Adding Kadri to the top unit is a big boost and he'll help on faceoffs as well. Landeskog isn't bad at all in that area but now they have two guys who can do it and they can be more aggressive.

It'll be tough for Makar to replace Barrie's production in year one but one area where I think he can be better is moving up the ice, whether that's skating it himself or with his stretch passes. It was tough enough to stop the entries as it is and it could be even tougher now with Makar as the other option with MacKinnon.

Makar replacing Barrie on that top unit could amount to all things being equal although I think Cale still has some growing pains that we are all going to have to put up with (both sides of the puck) . The biggest thing is Kadri is replacing Wilson on that unit. Im fairly confident that that's going to be an upgrade lol. I really just hope they don't get too fancy and end up over passing like they did on pre season.

I really would love to see Timmins get PP time on the second unit with Girard.

 

[avsfan09]

I love how he almost scored a breakaway goal that began from the hashmarks in his own zone during pre season lol.

That’s one of the craziest things I saw with him last year in college. Dude legit gets breakaways. It’s not because he cheats either. He’s smart enough to read a play early and he’s faster than everyone else on the ice. Certainly won’t be a nightly occurnace in the NHL but it’ll definitely happen occasionally.

I don’t want to side with Jeremy Roenick but his comparisons to being like Mcdavid on defense aren't as wild as they first seem imo. His skating makes him so difficult to defend that they are always in danger of being beat if they make small mistakes.

 

[Eye Test]

I got this guy in my money fantasy league, think I should play him over hesikanen on Dallas? Cheers

 

[avsfan09]

I don't know if the PP with be statistically better but I think there are areas where they improved and it could potentially lead to more success. Adding Kadri to the top unit is a big boost and he'll help on faceoffs as well. Landeskog isn't bad at all in that area but now they have two guys who can do it and they can be more aggressive.

It'll be tough for Makar to replace Barrie's production in year one but one area where I think he can be better is moving up the ice, whether that's skating it himself or with his stretch passes. It was tough enough to stop the entries as it is and it could be even tougher now with Makar as the other option with MacKinnon.

Exactly have Makar carry and Mack be the trailer. Makar has the ability to carry it himself if the defense cheats towards Mackinnon and if they collapse on him his skating and puck skill can create more open ice for Mackinnon.