Wild’s Quinn Hughes vs. Avs’ Cale Makar: The playoffs’ marquee matchup, as seen by mutual teammates

DENVER — If anyone thought that the “star defensemen face off” storyline entering the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild’s second-round series was overhyped, Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes quickly proved them wrong in Game 1, a 9-6 Colorado win.

After missing most of the first period with an apparent lower-body injury, Makar picked up an early assist in the second, then took over the third period with a go-ahead goal and a massive insurance tally with 2:54 remaining.

Hughes was similarly excellent for the Wild, leading all skaters with 28:57 of ice time and matching Makar’s three points. He showed off his all-world skating and passing in the first period by spinning to gain a step on Avalanche forward Brock Nelson, then backhanding the puck to Ryan Hartman for a goal.

These are arguably the two best defensemen in the sport: franchise-changing players who are integral to their teams’ Stanley Cup aspirations. Both are excellent skaters. Makar has the edge defensively and has a better shot, as he showed by singlehandedly changing the game in the third period. Hughes is as elusive as anyone in the NHL and is brilliant at controlling play in the offensive zone. The Wild’s acquisition of him from the Vancouver Canucks in December turned them into contenders.

Several Wild and Avalanche players have suited up alongside both, giving them firsthand looks at how the two are both similar and different.

How do they see it?

“Even when it feels really that you’re kind of draped all over them, they’re both slipping away from guys,” said Nelson, who won gold with Hughes on the U.S. Olympic team in Milan. “Great shooting and passing opportunities, too.

“That matchup is going to be a fun one to watch.”

Wild forward Yakov Trenin, who was on the Avalanche in 2024, said both are “so fast, so shifty” and “read the game very well and see the ice very well.”

It’s led to elite numbers.

Here’s how they compare in various categories:

* 2020 Calder and 2022 Conn Smythe, ** 4 Nations Face-Off

“Pretty cool to be able to come in with him,” said the 26-year-old Hughes, who finished second to now-27-year-old Makar in 2020 Calder voting. “He’s a year older but pretty much the same age. … You want to play the best, and (we) have that opportunity this series with Colorado.”

“It’s fun to be able to have this in playoffs,” added Makar. “But I don’t think for me (the matchup) is the main motivation at all. I mean, it’s a team game. It’s not individual stuff.”

Avalanche defenseman Nick Blankenburg played college hockey with Hughes at Michigan. He called both quiet at first but said “once they get more comfortable, they always like to crack a joke and chirp a guy.” Wild forward Nico Sturm, who won a Stanley Cup with Makar and the Avalanche in 2022, described both players’ personalities as laid back, and Avalanche goalie Scott Wedgewood, who trains with Hughes in Michigan during the offseason, called them introverted.

A love and deep understanding of hockey is also consistent among both.

“Whenever you’re around Quinny, you can ask him any hockey questions, love to hear his take, what he thinks,” Blankenburg said. “Both are very smart hockey players and think the game and know the game really well.”

Wedgewood said the Wild defenseman approaches him in summer sessions to ask for tips on making life harder on goalies. When trying to discern differences between the two, the goalie pointed to the velocity Makar gets on his shot. Makar scored 30 goals in 2024-25, making him the first defenseman to reach the threshold since Mike Green in 2008-09. Hughes has never scored more than 17 in a season, but he has a better career high in single-season assists (75 in 2023-24, compared to 69 for Makar the same season).

“(Hughes is) a little more pass-first but deceptive in what he can create and where the spacing is,” Wedgewood said. “He just kind of finds an extra five feet at the top of the blue line that only a few guys in this league can do.”

Though each player is an elite skater with top-notch edge work, they go about it in different ways. Sturm described Makar’s stride as more powerful than Hughes’, which is an assessment Blankenburg agrees with.

“You see that dynamic ability that he has, like the goals he scored against L.A.,” Blankenburg said, referring to a first-round goal in which Makar burst past Taylor Ward to score. “He can shake and bake guys at the top. He just does it in a different way. It’s maybe more deception in one or two moves, and he’s trying to go down and trying to make a play compared to Quinny.”

Nelson said Hughes’ skating is dynamic in “maybe in a little bit more fast-twitch way.” He’s difficult to forecheck because of his elusiveness; Sturm said you think you have him defended and then suddenly he’s gone.

And when either Makar or Hughes gains a step on his defender, it’s usually bad news for their opponent.  

“They’re both very deceptively counterintuitive to put you on your heels,” said Wedgewood, who noted they’re also excellent at managing the blue line. 

Makar finished with 20 goals and 79 points in 75 games this year, giving him his sixth consecutive season with at least a point per game. Hughes’ play had an uptick after Minnesota acquired him, and he finished with 76 points in 74 games. Makar had the edge in underlying numbers this season, with colleague Dom Luszczyszyn’s model giving him a plus-20.7 Net Rating compared to Hughes’ plus-17.3. Both were top 10 in the league among defensemen.

Hughes’ season also featured an Olympic gold medal and a rush of fame because of it, including an appearance on “Saturday Night Live.” He scored an overtime winner against Sweden in the quarterfinals, and his American team beat Makar’s Canadian squad in the gold medal game. Makar will try to seize back bragging rights with a playoff series win.

“Two elite guys going head to head: It’s obviously fun for the game,” Wedgewood said. “They just go about their business their own way.”