Cale Makar makes NHL All-Star Game for Avalanche

Cale Makar was selected to represent the Avalanche in the 2023 NHL All-Star Game, which will be held Feb. 4 in Sunrise, Fla., the league announced Thursday evening.

One player was chosen from every team, with Makar selected from the defending champion Avs. Three more players per division will be added via fan vote. Avalanche leading scorer Mikko Rantanen has not been chosen as an All-Star for now.

Makar has 34 points (nine goals, 25 assists) in Colorado’s first 36 games. The defending Norris Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy winner hasn’t scored at as high a clip as last season, but he has a 54.4% expected goals rate while on the ice. He also leads the NHL in ice time, averaging 27:09 per game entering Colorado’s matchup with Vancouver on Thursday. The Avs (19-14-3) have leaned heavily on Makar and Devon Toews with defensemen Bo Byram and Josh Manson injured.

This will be the second All-Star Game for the 24-year-old blueliner, who became the fastest defenseman in NHL history to reach 200 career points earlier this season. He reached the milestone in his 195th game.

Rantanen has been widely regarded as the Avalanche’s most valuable player so far, with 25 goals (24% of the entire team’s scoring) and 47 points this season. Center Nathan MacKinnon has an All-Star case as well, but he missed 11 games with an upper-body injury after starting the season with 34 points in 23 games.

Elsewhere in the league, former Avalanche center Nazem Kadri was selected to represent the Flames. Kadri, who signed with Calgary after helping Colorado to the 2022 Stanley Cup, has 29 points (14 goals) in 39 games.

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