Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar believes his team has what it needs to relive the joy of winning the Stanley Cup.
As part of the 2022 playoffs, the “Avs” won their first championship in 21 years. The team made the playoffs again in 2023, but was eliminated in seven games against the Seattle Kraken in the first round.
“This is a scenario with pros and cons, but one of the things that can help us as a team after this unfortunate exit is that it gives us a little more time to rest,” said Makar, whose comments were reported by National Hockey League (NHL) website.
“For a team that was as banged up as it was last year when we saw our players miss so many games, this is an important factor. I think several people took advantage of it. It can give us an advantage mentally as we were able to clear our heads a bit. We felt like everything was going full speed last summer, so this year we had a chance to take our time and regroup.”
Makar was one of the Avalanche players who struggled with injuries during the 2022-23 season. He was limited to 60 games in the regular season. He admitted that this offseason has been “a little stressful” for him as he has had to recover from ailments that have taken longer than expected to heal.
Healthy changes
Makar also said he liked the changes to Colorado’s roster. The Avs got their hands on forwards Ryan Johansen, Ross Colton, Miles Wood and Jonathan Drouin.
“I feel like we’re putting ourselves in the best possible situation to have another chance to win it all,” Makar said. The players we have added are hard workers who will be reliable night after night. I think management has done a great job of filling our gaps in our training and closing the gaps that were definitely exposed last year.”
“We want our window to keep expanding and we will continue to add people who can help us,” the star defender added. It’s exciting to be part of a team like this that can aim for the title every year. We believe we can do it.”