Scott MacDonald
(Photo courtesy of @Avalanche)
Earning the respect of your peers is certainly high praise, and when it comes from one of the NHL’s top talents, it’s certainly worth its salt.
Following the Avs first day of on-ice practice on Monday, Nathan MacKinnon was quick to compliment one of the newcomers on the team. That newcomer, defenseman Devon Toews, now suddenly finds himself making up one-half of the Avs top pair on defense, skating alongside one of the league’s elite defenseman in Cale Makar.
Given that these training camp practices are closed to the public and media, we’ll just have to trust MacKinnon’s word on this when he says that this Toews-Makar pairing so far appears to be a fun and dangerous duo.
“I think it’s exactly what we needed,” MacKinnon said when asked about the new offseason additions to the team, beginning to smirk as he prepared to talk about Toews and Makar. “Right now, we got Cale and Toews together and it’s already a lot of fun to play with them.”
There was almost a sort of glimmer of jubilation in his eyes, subtle indications of excitement that almost seemed to imply something to the effect of man, these two are going to be good together. It’s as if MacKinnon could already see what the lethal combination of Toews and Makar might be able to accomplish this season.
“Man, those two can move the puck,” he continued. “In the O-zone, they’re a lot of fun to play with. I noticed Toews’ little quick wrist shots through traffic. You know, that’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Perhaps I’m reading far too into it — I am, by no means, a body language expert. But trust me when I say there were certainly at least some subtle hints of excitement coming from MacKinnon. My conclusion is this: Nathan MacKinnon is, no doubt, quite excited about the possibility of playing with a D pair that’s made up of two of the league’s best puckmovers.
And in an offense that was already pretty lethal last season, adding even more firepower is certainly an exciting concept.
Avs head coach Jared Bednar shared similar thoughts.
“I love the way they skate,” Bednar said of his Makar-Toews pairing. “You got two guys that can really skate, both real intelligent hockey players. I thought [Monday] they were excellent.
“They skate so well, they’re hard to beat. And then when things transition, they’re looking to be part of it and looking to help lead our offense and get our offense moving in the right direction. They think alike. And I think as the communication improves and they get playing together and get to know each other well, I think they can be real tough pair to play against.”
It has, after all, only been one day of official on-ice practices with the newly-formed top pair on defense. Bednar has said that there’s still the possibility of moving those pairings around as he tries different looks in this condensed training camp schedule. But something tells me that those two might have to stay together.
“Things could change tomorrow and we could just be, you know, experimenting different things,” Toews admitted humbly. “I think that we are a very mobile group and everyone can play with everyone. If I get the chance to be on the ice with (Makar), he’s a playmaker and I’m trying to get the puck in his hands as much as I can.”
When asked what it was like playing with the Calder Trophy winner, like Bednar’s observation, Toews agrees that both he and Makar are pretty similar players.
“I think our IQ. I think we both skate so well and we see the ice quite similarly; we can both jump up and kind of create offense as well,” Toews added. “I think we defend and we’re aggressive in our D-zone and we try to stop plays and stop pucks so that we can go play offense. I think that’ll kind of cater towards playing together, it’s just working together using our IQ to stop opponents and get the puck into the playmakers hands.”
Perhaps this is why MacKinnon — and most everyone — are excited. Two proven, efficient puckmovers united on the Avalanche blueline, tormenting opponents night-in and night-out with their speed, IQ and efficiency.
This could be the reality for at least the next handful of years. Signed for four years at cap hit of $4.1 million, the Toews trade might be one of the savvier steals that GM Joe Sakic has leveraged over his tenure in the Avs front office. Giving up two second-round picks and just $4.1 million coming off the books, is decidedly very cheap for a top-two defenseman.
With a cupboard already stocked to the top shelf with fine china in the form of talented and promising prospects, giving up two second-round picks really seems like tupperware in comparison. Again, especially if Toews does end up projecting to be the 20-to-25-minute-per-night, top-pair guy…which it sounds like he might. At least for now.
Indeed, exciting times lie ahead on this newly-formed Avalanche blueline.