While the Colorado Avalanche are at the top of the mountain right now, the surprising thing is that they could actually be much better. They have superstars in Nathan MacKinnon (who is miles ahead of anyone else on the team in terms of goals) and Cale Makar (who is fifth on the team in goals and second on the team in assists). However, Makar is actually leaving plays out on the ice.
He also has a plus-minus of +32, which ranks fourth on the team.
He can truly be much better at his production than the stat sheet says. According to data analyst Meghan Chayka, in all of the NHL, Makar ranks seventh in puck possession percentage at 10.98 percent. To put that into perspective, Quinn Hughes, who was traded from the Vancouver Canucks to the Minnesota Wild earlier this season, ranks first at 14.52 percent.
Makar has 12 goals off of 117 shots this season. He is on pace for 233 shots, which would be the second-highest shot production of his career. Surprisingly, he’s “only” on pace for 24 goals right now, which would be the third-highest of his career. It’s clear the Avalanche need to up his puck control percentage going forward, because why would you not put the puck on the stick of your best player?
Cale Makar needs more puck possession on the power play
If they start to do that, the team should continue to dominate in every way that they have this season. Makar also has two power play goals to go along with 14 power play assists. One of his power play goals came on December 9 against the Nashville Predators while the other came on December 21 against the Minnesota Wild. He had a total of three power play assists in those games.
According to Money Puck, Makar’s expected goals in 5-on-4 situations is 2.7. He has one on 91 shifts in that category. He also is in the negative side of goals above expected in 5-on-4 situations at -1.7.
The power play has been probably the most-talked about negative for the Colorado Avalanche this season, and for good reason. The team ranks a dreadful 26th this season on the man advantage at 16.3 percent. They’ve got a new power play coordinator (assistant coach Dave Hakstol), so it makes sense that they would struggle, but everybody has expected those struggles to disappear or at least lessen greatly at this point in the season.
Getting Cale Makar the puck more often and allowing him to shoot whenever he desires needs to be at the front of Hakstol’s mind going forward. It is clear that the Avalanche are missing out on so much of Makar’s potential, which is crazy to think about!