Colorado Avalanche Season Preview: Defensemen
Coming off a disappointing finish to the 2024-25 season, the Colorado Avalanche are gearing up to take another run at the franchise’s fourth Stanley Cup championship. They will have an uphill climb as a tough Western Conference slate awaits.
The Avalanche have one of the most talented lineups in what is already looking like an ultra-tough Central Division. With a goaltending preview in the rearview mirror, it is now time to take a look at the defensive corps to see how the Avalanche stack up compared to the competition.
Top Pairing
Where else can you start but with the defending Norris Trophy winner? Cale Makar is the best defenseman in the league and only Quinn Hughes can even possibly challenge that crown. Makar is coming off a career-high 92-point season and just the second 30-goal season by a defenseman since 1992-93 (Mike Green being the other).
Next to him is 31-year-old Devon Toews, the rugged two-way defenseman who may very well be the most underrated blueliner in the league. Toews has been a solid 45-50-point defenseman capable of playing shutdown minutes while allowing Makar to roam freely.
This pairing is going to eat a ton of minutes (24 minutes or more a night) and provide high-end play the entire time. Makar is like having an elite forward on the back end, giving the Avalanche a dynamic aspect that virtually no other team can replicate. That is the kind of advantage a true contender takes advantage of.
Second Pairing
The Avalanche’s second pairing is perhaps the most interesting. If it is capable of living up to its potential, it has the potential to provide physicality, puck-moving ability, and to eat nearly 20 minutes per night. But can the duo stay on the ice?
Samuel Girard is undersized (5-foot-10, 170 pounds) by NHL standards but can move the puck well. Injuries have been a normal part of his career, though he has played 73 games or more in two of the last three seasons. Though he may not produce more than 35 points a season on average, he can responsibly eat 20-plus minutes per night.
Playing next to him is Josh Manson. When healthy, the 6-foot-3, 215-pounder is exactly what the top four needs. He can still move well even at 33 years old and has a physical side to him that the rest of the group doesn’t have. That said, he’s dealt with major injury issues in two of the last three seasons, suiting up in 48 games in 2024-25. If he can remain on the ice regularly, Manson can be the tough, physical defender that a solid second pairing requires.
Third Pairing
The third pairing is quite interesting on paper. On one side, there is 27-year-old journeyman Sam Malinski. Malinski finally cracked an NHL lineup full-time for the first time in 2024-25, providing quietly solid play to the bottom pairing. He is what he is, and 15 minutes of sheltered ice time works well for him.
On the other side is 40-year-old veteran Brent Burns. After three seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes, Burns is looking to make one last cup run in Colorado. He isn’t the Burns of even a handful of seasons ago, but still capable of chipping in at a high level.
This may be a perfect pairing on paper. Malinski can play sheltered minutes and focus on the basics, while Burns can provide steady veteran presence and perhaps hit double digits in goals again by playing third-pair matchups rather than facing tougher top-four battles. It also doesn’t hurt that the Avalanche are adding a proven commodity to the bottom pair.
A Potentially Elite Unit
The Avalanche need a little help in the form of Girard and Manson staying in the lineup, but this looks like a fantastic group on paper. Makar and Toews are the cream of the crop, the former more than likely challenging for another Norris Trophy and even the Hart Trophy as league MVP.
Burns and Malinski can be a solid third pairing, and the Manson-Girard combo could be the glue that holds it all together. If they can’t stay healthy, Burns can slide in for one of them to help bridge the gap and limit a potential drop-off.
Why rookie Payton Tolle is embracing being ‘star-struck’ in Red Sox clubhouse filled with stars
Payton Tolle has had to make many introductions since joining the Red Sox on August 30. (Photo by Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)Boston Globe via Getty Images
Shortly after leaving the mound at the end of an electric major league debut at Fenway late last month, Red Sox rookie Payton Tolle noted that he took a moment, as he was taken out of the game, to tell his infielders how “cool” he thought they were. It wasn’t a bit.
Tolle, now in his second full week as a big leaguer, hasn’t tried too hard to play it cool in his own right. Instead, a 22-year-old who was pitching in the Big 12 last year and started this season at High-A has repeatedly told himself to embrace, in his words, “the star-struckness of it all.”
Tolle, unlike fellow top prospects Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell, didn’t spend any part of spring training with the major league club in February or March. He had met manager Alex Cora just once, when he visited Fenway Park to sign his contract after the draft last summer, and had spent little to no time with most of his Red Sox teammates before getting called up on August 30. Outside of a couple players who he overlapped with during a short stint in Worcester and pitchers Garrett Whitlock and Brennan Bernardino, who Tolle had trained with in Fort Myers over the winter, there weren’t many familiar faces waiting for Tolle when he arrived in the bigs. Instead of playing it off, Tolle has been rather forthright about the awe he has experienced.
“You see guys and it’s like, ‘I’ve shook your hand. You’re not just another face on TV anymore,’” Tolle said. “I’m still wearing off the star-struckness of it all. There’s also a little bit of it because I think that’s good to have.
“If I was trying to hide it away, I wouldn’t be able to get comfortable and that’s kind of what I am. I want to be excited about where I’m at and excited that I get to share the field with these guys. Selfishly, I’ve worked hard to be here. I’m super grateful for the opportunity of it all. You get to step back and be like, ‘Man, I get to share the field with these guys. Guys who are All-Stars, future Hall of Famers.’ That’s neat.”
As he took the mound for the first time at Fenway, Tolle took note of who was behind him on the left side of the infield. Third baseman Alex Bregman and shortstop Trevor Story have combined for five All-Star appearances, two World Series titles and a long list of other accolades. It took a few repetitions for Tolle to come to grips with who was throwing him the ball when the Sox tossed it around the horn between batters.
“The first time Bregman threw the ball back to me on the mound, he threw it really hard, which was the first, ‘Woah’ moment,” Tolle said, laughing. “After that — I might have said it under my breath, I don’t know if he saw me say it — but every time I caught the ball, I was like, ‘Thank you, Alex Bregman!“
Boston’s pitching staff also features its share of accomplished players, and Tolle cited starters Garrett Crochet and Lucas Giolito as having been invaluable sounding boards during his first taste of big league action. The teammate who most caught Tolle’s attention, though, was a fellow big lefty with high-octane stuff. Aroldis Chapman’s first All-Star appearance came in 2012, not long before Tolle’s 10th birthday. Thirteen years later, Chapman is one of the elder statesman in a clubhouse that includes rookies like Tolle and Connelly Early, who said after his stellar debut that as a Reds fan growing up, he had a Fathead sticker of Chapman on the wall of his childhood bedroom.
Tolle was also a fan growing up.
“I was probably a sophomore in high school and I was trying to mimic everything,“ said Tolle, breaking into a pantomime demonstration of Chapman’s unique delivery by tucking his head into his shoulder. ”That’s kinda cool.”
As Tolle takes the mound for his third career start Wednesday in Sacramento, he’s already one of the guys. The one in awe of the others, in fact.
“The transition was super easy,” Tolle said. “One thing that I’ve learned, trying to become comfortable as quick as possible with everything, is that with this group of guys, it’s super easy.
“It’s very cool just because these guys are so cool — in every way,“ Tolle added. ”As baseball players, but as guys in general. I’m super honored and grateful to share the field with them."
