{"id":878139,"date":"2026-04-29T21:39:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T21:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/878139\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T21:39:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T21:39:32","slug":"we-ran-the-numbers-cale-makar-is-the-nhl-playoffs-fastest-defenseman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/878139\/","title":{"rendered":"We ran the numbers. Cale Makar is the NHL playoffs\u2019 fastest defenseman"},"content":{"rendered":"

In game two of the Colorado\u00a0Avalanche’s\u00a0opening round series against the Los Angeles Kings<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0April 21, defenseman Cale Makar<\/a> reached a maximum speed\u00a0of 23.92 mph.<\/p>\n

That speed is the fastest ever recorded by a defenseman in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since the NHL started tracking the stat in the 2021-22 season.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0also the fastest overall speed in this year\u2019s playoffs, regardless of position.<\/p>\n

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Makar\u2019s top speed is over 1 mph faster than this year\u2019s next\u00a0fastest defenseman\u00a0of\u00a0the playoffs, Erik Karlsson<\/a> of the\u00a0Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> (22.78 mph).\u00a0Previously, the\u00a0highest max speed mark for a defenseman in the playoffs was set last year by Noah Hanifin<\/a> for the Vegas Golden Knights<\/a> (23.66 mph).<\/p>\n

\"\u2060\"<\/p>\n

\u2060<\/p>\n

The next fastest skater after Makar this year is Los Angeles<\/a>\u2019 Trevor Moore<\/a>. The left winger has topped out at 23.48 mph this postseason.<\/p>\n

Makar\u2019s\u00a0previous\u00a0top speed in the playoffs was\u00a023.28 mph, which he hit last\u00a0year.\u00a0During the 2021-22 regular season, he reached a max speed of 23.74 mph, which\u00a0\u2014\u00a0until this\u00a0April\u2014\u00a0was his highest ever recorded.<\/p>\n

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DIG DEEPER: NHL playoff bracket breakdown with betting odds, matchups, schedule<\/a><\/p>\n

During the 2025-26 regular season, Makar was the fifth-fastest defenseman, as he trailed Ottawa<\/a>‘s Jake Sanderson<\/a>, Utah’s Mikhail Sergachev<\/a>, Boston<\/a>‘s Nikita\u00a0Zadorov, and Karlsson. His new 23.92 mph mark\u00a0lags\u00a0only Sanderson\u2019s top speed of 24.37 mph\u00a0among defensemen.<\/p>\n

Makar\u2019s Colorado teammate Nathan McKinnon<\/a> has\u00a0the\u00a0all-time playoff speed record of 24.54 mph, set during the 2022 playoffs.<\/p>\n

Makar and the Western Conference\u2019s top-seeded Avalanche swept the Kings in round one and await the winner of Dallas-Minnesota in round two.<\/p>\n

Methodology note: Data from NHL EDGE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cale Makar NFL playoffs speed chart: How he compares to everyone else<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In game two of the Colorado\u00a0Avalanche’s\u00a0opening round series against the Los Angeles Kings\u00a0on\u00a0April 21, defenseman Cale Makar reached…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":878140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[433,71178,22006,72141,118815,7,118820,1014,35861,118819,118822,6,84,4475,118821,118818,9756,20613,118817,118816,35929],"class_list":["post-878139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl-playoffs","tag-boston","tag-cale-makar","tag-colorado-avalanche","tag-defenseman","tag-erik-karlsson","tag-football","tag-jake-sanderson","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-kings","tag-mikhail-sergachev","tag-nathan-mckinnon","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-playoffs","tag-nhl","tag-nikita-zadorov","tag-noah-hanifin","tag-ottawa","tag-pittsburgh-penguins","tag-top-speed","tag-trevor-moore","tag-vegas-golden-knights"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116490166418026319","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}