Colorado Avalanche defenceman Cale Makar will make his NHL debut in Game 3 against Calgary, his favourite childhood team.
Makar signed a three-year deal with Colorado on Sunday — a day after Massachusetts lost in the Frozen Four championship game. The 20-year-old will step in for injured defenceman Samuel Girard.
The Colorado-Calgary series is tied going into Monday’s game.
Watch below: Some recent video about the Calgary Flames.
Growing up in Calgary, Makar and his family were big Flames fans. He joked they’re “fully Avs converted now.”
Makar had 49 points for UMass and won the Hobey Baker Memorial Award as college hockey’s top player.
LISTEN: Gary Makar, Cale’s father, joins The Morning News with Gord & Sue to discuss his son’s college hockey award and NHL debut
READ MORE: Calgary’s Cale Makar wins Hobey Baker award as U.S. college hockey’s MVP
He practiced Monday morning and impressed his new Avalanche teammates.
All-Star forward Nathan MacKinnon said Makar is “so smooth and so agile. You can kind of tell why he was so dominant in college.”
Watch below: (From January 2017) A Brooks Bandits defenceman is generating a huge level of interest from NHL scouts. The offensively gifted Cale Makar has the chance to be the highest drafted AJHL player in history, and the only Brooks Bandit to be directly drafted into the NHL.