The NHL has announced the First and Second All-Star Teams, and Colorado Avalanche‘s Cale Makar has made the First Team, and Nathan MacKinnon has made the Second Team.
For Makar, this is his sixth consecutive season earning an All-Star honor; it’s his third time being named to the All-Star First Team. With his nomination, he becomes the first player in Avalanche/Quebec Nordique history to earn six career postseason all-star honors and the first to be named to the NHL First All-Star Team on four occasions.
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This is MacKinnon’s fifth total selection, which tied him with Michel Goulet for the 2nd most. This is also the 11th time in Avalanche history that multiple players were named to postseason All-Star Teams in the same season, which included All-Rookie Teams as well.
Makar finished last season with 79 points (20g/59a) in 75 games, ranking among NHL rearguards in points (3rd), assists (T-4th), goals (6th), even-strength goals (16, 3rd), and time on ice per game (24:51, 7th). He was the runner-up for the 2026 James Norris Memorial Trophy, which helped him become the second player in NHL history to be a finalist in six of the first seven full seasons.
During the season, we saw Makar score his 500th career point in his 467th game against the Winnipeg Jets on March 28th, helping him become the fourth-fastest defenseman in NHL history to reach 500 points, only behind Bobby Orr (396 GP), Paul Coffey (422 GP), and Denis Potvin (465 GP).
He also became the fastest defenseman in NHL history to reach 25 career game-winning goals (399 GP) when he notched the game-winner on Oct. 16 against the Columbus Blue Jackets. He tied his career-high in assists with four against the New Jersey Devils on Oct. 28. With the hot start of the team this season, he helped by starting the season with 10 points in his first 10 road games, which tied for the third-longest streak to start a season by a defenseman in NHL history.
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MacKinnon capped off his historic season by taking home his first career Rocket Richard Trophy after leading the NHL in goals with 53, joining Milan Hejduk in 2002-03 as the only other Avalanche player to win the trophy. He also finished third in Hart Memorial Trophy voting.
Nathan MacKinnon Had The NHL Wondering If History Was About To Repeat Itself
His 127 points in 80 games are the third most points in franchise history, only behind his own 140 he set during the 2023-24 season and Peter Stastny’s 139 in 1981-82. Of his 127 points, 97 were even-strength points (42 goals and 55 assists), the most in a single season since Wayne Gretzky’s 103 (33 goals and 70 assists) back in the 1990-91 season with the Los Angeles Kings. He also paced the NHL in multi-goal games (14), three-point games (20), third-period points (56), shots (350), and rating (+57) and was tied for third in assists.
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During his campaign, he surpassed Joe Sakic for the most points by an Avalanche player (1,015) in October. He became the first player in NHL history to score a game-winning goal against 32 different franchises when he scored against the Utah Mammoth on Oct. 9.
While if you ask any Avalanche fan, or even Makar or MacKinnon, that this season would be even better with a Gold medal at the Olympics or another Stanley Cup, it’s still important to look back at this season and admire the feats that these players are achieving. They put so much pressure on themselves that, yes, it’s disappointing not seeing them win it, but it cements their legacy in what they are doing, not just with the team but in the NHL as a whole, and they are sure that they will look to improve even more next season.
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