More often than not, it’s the optics of a brutal hockey hit that matter most during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
And if the Grading the Week staff is being honest, those weren’t very good when Cale Makar clobbered Jared McCann in Game 4 of the Avs’ first-round series against the Kraken — resulting in a one-game suspension for Game 5 at Ball Arena that Colorado ultimately lost.
Cale Makar — C
Granted, it’s quite a bit different to examine something in slow motion than in the fast-moving confusion of real-time hockey action.
But this much cannot be argued: Makar engaged with McCann once to start the sequence, the puck was fluttering out of play as he followed McCann into the corner for hit No. 2, and the resulting full-body check slammed McCann into the boards so hard he was lost for the rest of that game and the two that followed.
Taken together, it’s hard to argue against severe punishment from the NHL, regardless of the fact Makar’s on-ice history is about three five-minute majors short of, say, Nazem Kadri.
Makar told reporters after the game that he didn’t know the puck had flown out of play when he delivered his second blow. And it’s reasonable to believe that was the case given the fact that the whistle hadn’t yet been blown.
To be clear: There’s little about the play that appears outwardly malicious. It was more likely the careless actions of someone mentally and physically exhausted.
Understandable? No doubt. But a costly mistake nonetheless.
Coach Prime — C-
Speaking of bad optics … how about the last six days in Boulder?
The good vibes that surrounded last Saturday’s sold-out CU spring football game quickly faded once the mass exodus of Buffs into the transfer portal began the very next day as most scholarship athletes were deemed ill-equipped to contribute to winning in Coach Prime’s program.
As of mid-week, 41 Buffs had left since the portal window opened on April 15, Brian Howell of BuffZone.com reported. That a large number of them don’t appear headed to other Power 5 programs underscores the idea that Prime’s coaching staff is probably right about that.
Deion Sanders made it clear from the very beginning that he was going to run off those who didn’t meet his “Louis” standards. So it can be said unequivocally that we knew this was coming.
Does that wash away the unsightliness of the past six days? To some extent, sure. He’s doing the thing he said he was going to do. And in the Transfer Portal Age, he’s well within the NCAA’s boundaries to do so.
Still, it’s no less jarring for those shown the door one or two years after they accepted an athletic scholarship from CU.
We don’t know if such was the case with breakout freshman wide receiver Jordyn Tyson, who entered the portal a few months removed from suffering a severe “lower leg injury” in a game at Folsom Field last fall. But if it was, what does that say about the disposable nature of athletes who remain unpaid revenue drivers for CU’s athletic department?
This much we do know: Sanders was willing to keep those athletes around for a series of spring practices culminating with last weekend’s sold-out scrimmage which was sold as an extended tryout for the Prime Era.
And once he got his nationally televised showcase, they weren’t good enough to stay.
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