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Colorado Avalanche fans rejoice! Cale Makar is on the cover of NHL ’24

By Sean McKenna

TORONTO, CANADA - MARCH 15: Cale Makar #8 of the Colorado Avalanche waits for a faceoff against the Toronto Maple Leafs during an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on March 15, 2023 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Avalanche defeated the Maple Leafs 2-1 in overtime shootout. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
TORONTO, CANADA - MARCH 15: Cale Makar #8 of the Colorado Avalanche waits for a faceoff against the Toronto Maple Leafs during an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on March 15, 2023 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Avalanche defeated the Maple Leafs 2-1 in overtime shootout. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) /
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As announced today by EA Sports, Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar has been named the cover athlete of EA Sports’ latest edition of its NHL video game, NHL 24! Makar should see this as a big honor, and the NHL can do wonders for their worldwide marketing if they make Makar one of the faces of the NHL.

He’s already got the ability; the NHL needs to market him properly. The last few cover athletes have been marketable players like Trevor Zegras, Alex Ovechkin, and Auston Matthews. They even added Sarah Nurse on the NHL 22 cover, as she’s a top-notch female player that resonates with hockey fans and deserved some publicity. The NHL has a golden opportunity to do the same with Makar.

Although I wouldn’t call the Avs an afterthought in the NHL, as they won the Stanley Cup in 2022, the NHL does not market the stars the team has very well. Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, and Mikko Rantanen are just a few names that people are not familiar enough with across the hockey landscape. Hockey fans know them, but do the casual fans or the new fans the NHL is trying to attract?

Makar is arguably the premier defenseman in the NHL right now. He won the Calder trophy in 2020 as the NHL Rookie of the Year, and added a Norris trophy not long after that, in 2022, as the NHL’s top defenseman. He also added a Stanley Cup in 2022. That’s quite an accruement of hardware in just a few years.

Over his career, Makar has 246 points in just 238 games. That’s unheard of for a defenseman in this age of hockey. His star has shined even brighter during the playoffs, when it counts the most. In 61 career playoff games, (already!) Makar has delivered 16 goals and 49 assists for 65 total points. He’s also a plus-27 in the playoffs. To put it plainly, when Makar’s on the ice, good things happen.

Colorado Avalanche: Makar’s a generational talent. It is plain and simple.

He certainly deserves this accolade, however big or small he may deem it to be. The NHL has a golden opportunity to market a new player to the world, and to quell some of the criticism it receives as far as not being able to properly market the sport’s top stars.

Makar is from Calgary and played his college hockey at UMass. People across North America know his name, but they may not know much about him otherwise. The opportunity is here to put Makar on the map, as well as boost the profile of the Colorado Avalanche, all in one.

Everyone plays the EA Sports NHL series, regardless of hockey fandom. It’s a fun game. I’ve played it for years. When I was in college, my buddies and I used to have tournaments together. It would be nice for casual or even non-hockey fans to be able to see this cover and not have to go searching to find information about Makar, but for the NHL to properly market him. If so, new fans could be obtained in droves.

Makar has done his part. His excellent play over the course of his young career has earned him the cover of NHL 24. It’s now up to the NHL itself to market one of its best players moving forward-a generational talent- properly. The benefits can be endless.

Congrats Cale!

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