They have been the two most prolific offensive defensemen in the sport since 2019-20, their first full NHL season, and it hasn\u2019t been particularly close. Makar has 26 more goals than anyone else at the position. Hughes has 45 more assists (Makar is second).<\/p>\n
Makar\u2019s 507 points are 76 more than anyone not named Hughes, who has 482. They have won three of the past four Norris Trophies. Makar has finished in the top three for five consecutive seasons. Hughes has done the same each of the past two years.<\/p>\n
They have been compared to each other constantly, dating back to their days at Michigan and UMass<\/a>. The comparisons on social media are often quite contentious.<\/p>\n It will almost certainly be a huge talking point in this series.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just funny,\u201d Hughes said. \u201cPretty cool to have been able to come in with him. He\u2019s a year older, but pretty much the same age, and there\u2019s so many great defensemen in the league right now, honestly. You want to play the best and have that opportunity. This series with Colorado, I think it\u2019s just a great opportunity to go up against those guys. They got a great team. We got a great team, and just looking forward to the matchup.\u201d<\/p>\n Makar also played down the individual matchup, but both stars heaped plenty of praise on each other in the days leading up to Game 1 on Sunday night at Ball Arena.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s ultra competitive,\u201d Hughes said. \u201cHe\u2019s always attacking. He\u2019s a great goalscorer. Can really score and shoot the puck. He\u2019s got great hockey sense, can skate. So he\u2019s, obviously, going to be a problem, and I know he\u2019s going to try to bring his best, and we\u2019ll try to do that too.\u201d<\/p>\n Added Makar: \u201cThere\u2019s so much (he respects). I think when he has the puck, it\u2019s incredible to watch. He\u2019s very mobile and finds the right seams. We saw a lot of that in the Dallas series. \u2026 Him and (Brock) Faber in general have been incredible. At the Olympics, too. It\u2019s fun watching those guys. They are incredible at breaking up the puck, and they\u2019re in every rush. They make forwards\u2019 lives challenging, and give them credit because they did a great job against Dallas.\u201d<\/p>\n This is not just Makar versus Hughes, obviously. Their typical defense partners, Faber and Devon Toews, were also both Olympians. Both clubs are also missing a key second-pairing guy to start the series \u2014 Josh Manson for the Avs, Jonas Brodin for the Wild.<\/p>\n Minnesota was a very good team on Dec. 12, but the Wild became one of the top Stanley Cup contenders the following day when they sent a huge package of assets, headlined by former University of Denver star Zeev Buium, to Vancouver for Hughes. It was the biggest trade of the season<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cMade (me) a better coach, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d Minnesota\u2019s John Hynes said. \u201cWe all see what he what he does on the ice. But I think for him, he\u2019s just what I respect so much about him that I didn\u2019t know, is I didn\u2019t know him personally, but coached him here, and then had an opportunity to work with him at the Olympics and see him in that environment, just, I think, the type of guy he is. He\u2019s a leader, he\u2019s really intelligent, cares about the game, he\u2019s coachable. He brings the on and the off-ice component of an elite player.\u201d<\/p>\n They are obviously similarly world-class players, but there are some differences. Hughes is more of a pass-first facilitator, while Makar has been the game\u2019s best finisher from the blue line since he entered the league.<\/p>\n They\u2019re both on the smaller end of the defensive spectrum, but are also elite players without the puck.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like they\u2019re similar, but then also when you see them kind of first-hand, so different too,\u201d said Avs center Brock Nelson, who played with Hughes at the 2026 Winter Olympics. \u201cI mean, maybe in just the way they kind of defend and body position, how they skate. Quinn is so, so dynamic and maybe in a little bit more fast-twitch way. Cale\u2019s obviously dynamic in his own way, as well as in the ability to beat guys, unbelievable edges.<\/p>\n \u201cBoth guys can kind of just come in \u2026 one-man breakout. It\u2019s hard to kind of really lock them up. You have to try and contain them and just kind of limit their space because they\u2019re so shifty. Even when it feels really that you\u2019re kind of draped all over them, they\u2019re both slipping away from guys. \u2026 I feel like getting that matchup is going to be a fun one to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Cale](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2263601988.jpg\")
Cale Makar #8 of the Colorado Avalanche looks for a shot as he is pressured by Logan Cooley #92 of the Utah Mammoth during the second period of a game at Delta Center on February 25, 2026 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Alex Goodlett\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Quinn](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2273950566.jpg\")
Quinn Hughes #43 of the Minnesota Wild skates with the puck against the Dallas Stars during the second period in Game 6 of the First Round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Grand Casino Arena on April 30, 2026 in St Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by David Berding\/Getty Images)
\nA pass-first facilitator and the NHL\u2019s best finisher from the blue line<\/p>\n