You need to spend some time on Canucks social media so you can learn about how Hughes is better than Cale in every statistical category and anything that makes it seem like Cale is ahead is actually because of caveatcaveatcaveat and Hughes is really the best defenseman of his or any generation and Makar is just overrated fluff propped up by the biased American media etc etc…

Apart from the odd game at the very beginning of the season, I think Makar has reached a new level. And I agree with you, even withMacKinnon leading the league in points and Mikko’s three hatties, I still think Makar has been the best player on the Avs in almost every game.

Yes – I’ve mentioned before that he’s a big body who plays tough defense and doesn’t take any sh!t off anyone. Middleton might fumble and stumble with the puck and he doesn’t provide much offense but he’s very physical. To me, it adds balance to a perceived “finesse” team that has plenty of scorers.

Thought the bus was always going to run em over til it went five hole…

I don’t believe he NEEDS to win his debut, but he does NEED to perform to the point where the team’s confidence in him is obvious. If he does that, I think that will go further with the team knowing THEY don’t need to be perfect for the first 10 minutes.

That brings me to this: Explain to me how Makar isn’t getting any sort of Hart Trophy buzz? Is it solely because MacKinnon and Rantanen are also both in the discussion? I mean, Cale is in the top ten in scoring at the defenseman position, no other d-man is even close. He plays in literally every situation, and as far as I know is the only defenseman who is the quarterback of the top power play while also being in the number one penalty kill unit. Also, as it was mentioned on an ESPN awards tracker article, Makar is always out there matched up against the opposing team’s best line, which is something that can’t be said about guys like Hughes or even Hedman. His advanced stats are outstanding as well, as they usually are, and no one comes remotely close to him on the eye test.

When I think of most valuable, I think of all those things I just mentioned, so it boggles my mind that Makar isn’t even on the Hart radar at this point, especially when Hellebuyck is (and I’ll say rightfully so for him as well), along with a handful of forwards. There hasn’t been a defenseman awarded MVP since Pronger in 2000, but I think this should be the year that streak ends – especially if Cale puts up 110+ points, as I think he can and will.