Third Avs Duo To Be Named To First Team In Same Season
The National Hockey League announced today that Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar and forward Nathan MacKinnon were named to the 2024-25 First All-Star Team. This year’s results mark the 10th time multiple Avalanche were named to postseason All-Star Teams in the same season, and the third instance Colorado had two players selected to the First Team (Ray Bourque, Joe Sakic in 2000-01; Patrick Roy, Sakic in 2001-02).
Makar, 26, captured his third career First All-Star Team honor (2020-21 and 2021-22) and is the second Avalanche in as many seasons to be named to the First Postseason All-Star Team (MacKinnon). The Calgary, Alberta, native has been named to either a First Team, Second Team or All-Rookie Team every season since his first full campaign in 2019-20. Ray Bourque (first 17 seasons) and Bobby Orr (first nine seasons) are the only other defensemen in League history to be named to one of those three postseason teams in each of his first six full NHL campaigns. Makar tied Michel Goulet, Peter Forsberg and Sakic as the only players in Avalanche/Nordiques history to take home three different First All-Star Team selections. Including being named to the All-Rookie Team in 2019-20, Makar’s six different total recognitions are the most any player has won with the franchise.
The 6-foot, 187-pound defenseman registered 92 points (30g/62a) in 80 games during the 2024-25 regular season to pace all NHL blueliners in goals, assists and points, with his 30 goals and 92 points breaking his own franchise records for a defenseman. The 30 tallies marked the first time an NHL defenseman hit the benchmark since Mike Green (31g/42a) in 2008-09 with the Washington Capitals. In fact, Makar is just the ninth different rearguard in NHL history (18th instance) to hit the 30-goal mark, joining Orr (five times), Coffey (four times), Denis Potvin (three times), Bourque, Kevin Hatcher, Phil Housley, Doug Wilson and Green. The 92-point campaign made Makar the fifth defenseman all-time to post consecutive 90-point seasons, and the first since Coffey (1988-89 to 1990-91) and Al MacInnis (1989-91). In fact, the 30g/62a scoring line also made Makar the first blueliner since Coffey in 1988-89 to register 30-plus goals and 60-plus assists in the same season.
Makar also ranked first among League defensemen in power-play goals (12), power-play points (35), even-strength points (54 – tied), shorthanded tallies (2), multi-goal efforts (6), multi-point performances (27), goals per game (0.38) and points per game (1.15). His six multi-goal games were the most by a defenseman in a single campaign since Coffey in 1985-86 (13). Among all NHL skaters, Makar ranked among league leaders in assists (8th), points (9th), power-play points (6th) and time on ice per game (25:43, 3rd).
The blueliner was awarded the NHL’s First Star of the Month of October after recording points in all 11 games that month, a season-opening point streak that topped out at 13 contests. His 19 points (4g/15a) in October shared the NHL-lead for Mark Stone entering the Nov. 1 games, marking the first time since 1974-75 that a defenseman had at least a share of the NHL-lead in points after one calendar month of the season. Additionally, Makar added the NHL’s First Star of the Week to his 2024-25 portfolio, earning that honor for the week of Dec. 16-22.
MacKinnon, 29, earned a spot on a Postseason All-Star Team for the second consecutive campaign and fifth time in his career. He joins Makar and Goulet as the only players to be selected to five different Postseason All-Star Teams while playing for the Avalanche/Nordiques franchise. MacKinnon is the first Avalanche to capture back-to-back First Team honors since Makar in 2020-21 and 2021-22, and the fifth player in franchise history to be named to the First Team in consecutive campaigns. The five different recognitions for MacKinnon include two First Team nods (2023-24 and 2024-25), two Second Team awards (2019-20 and 2017-18) and an All-Rookie selection in 2013-14.
The 6-foot, 200-pound forward finished second in league scoring with 116 points (32g/84a) in 79 games, reaching the 100-point mark for the third consecutive season to join Peter Stastny (six) as the only players in franchise history to accomplish that feat. MacKinnon held at least a share of the lead in points for 122 of the 124 days from Dec. 10 to April 12 but missed the final three games of the regular season due to injury. Despite being shut down, he still tied for the league-lead in assists, becoming the first player in franchise history to post back-to-back 80-assist campaigns and just the second player in Avalanche/Nordiques history to have at least a share of the most helpers in the NHL at season’s end, joining Forsberg in 2002-03.
MacKinnon recorded his 1,000th career point on March 10 against Chicago, becoming the 100th player in NHL history to reach the milestone and first from the 2013 draft class. He joined Sakic (625g/1,016a) and Stastny (450g/789a) as the only skaters in franchise history to record 1,000 points, and joined Sakic (391g/624a) as the only pair to register 1,000 points since the franchise relocated ahead of 1995-96.
The centerman was featured in the League’s monthly and weekly stars multiple times during the 2024-25 campaign, including two First Stars of the Month for December and February. He was also named the NHL’s First Star of the Week for March 3-9 as well as Second Star for Dec. 9-15 and Nov. 4-10. MacKinnon opened the year with a 13-game point streak (Oct. 9–Nov. 5) and joined Wayne Gretzky (four) as the only players in NHL history to record two season-opening point streaks of at least 13 games, as MacKinnon also collected a 13-game run to begin 2019-20. The Halifax, Nova Scotia, native also registered at least a point in each of the final 26 games he dressed in at Ball Arena, marking the longest home point streak that the NHL saw in 2024-25.
Both MacKinnon and Makar represented Team Canada at the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off this past season and helped guide their team to a gold medal victory. MacKinnon was named the showcase’s MVP after tallying a tournament-leading four goals (4g/0a) in four games, while Makar led the tournament with an average time on ice of 26:47 over three showings. MacKinnon joined Gretzky (1987) and Sakic (2002) as the only players in hockey history to be the reigning MVP of both the NHL season and the most recent best-on-best international tournament.
