Hughes, Makar, Fox usher in new era of NHL defensemen

Trivia question: Which former NCAA defensemen have won the Calder Trophy as the NHL rookie of the year?

"Oh, boy," Cale Makar said. "I have no idea."

"I don't know, either," Quinn Hughes said.

Answer: Gary Suter, who played at Wisconsin and won the Calder with the Calgary Flames in 1985-86, and Brian Leetch, who played at Boston College and won the Calder with the New York Rangers in 1988-89.

But Suter and Leetch could be joined by one of the players who appeared on a video call Monday arranged by the NHL: Makar of the Colorado Avalanche, Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks and Adam Fox of the Rangers.

Hughes leads NHL rookies with 53 points (eight goals, 45 assists) in 68 games. Makar is second with 50 points (12 goals, 38 assists) in 57 games. Never in the modern era (since 1943-44) have two defensemen led rookies in scoring.

Fox has 42 points (eight goals, 34 assists) in 70 games, tied with Buffalo Sabres forward Victor Olofsson for fourth.

With the NHL season paused since March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus, the call was a chance to explore why these players have been able to make an instant impact.

None is big. Makar is 5-feet-11, 187 pounds; Hughes 5-10, 175; Fox 5-11, 181. But each chose the NCAA route to mature physically and mentally, and each entered the NHL at a time when the style of play suited his skill set.

"I feel like there's a new generation of defensemen coming in, whether they're just small or mobile," Makar said. "But I think everybody's just going to take a different amount of time to develop, and I think for us, we're all kind of similar builds in terms of our height and stuff.

"I think you just know when you're ready, and regardless of the way that you go, I think the game's just changing and it's just becoming faster. Definitely a more agile sport."

Hughes, the No. 7 pick of the 2018 NHL Draft, spent one season at Michigan before joining the Canucks. He had three assists in five games down the stretch last season.

"For me, going from college to the NHL, you obviously believe in yourself and you hope that you're ready, but you never really know," Hughes said. "So you kind of just hope that you're going into a good spot and it all kind of just works out."

Makar, the No. 4 pick of the 2017 NHL Draft, spent two seasons at UMass Amherst before joining the Avalanche. He jumped straight into the Stanley Cup Playoffs on April 15, 2019, three days after winning the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in NCAA men's hockey and two days after playing in the NCAA Division I final.

He found himself in the hallway before warmups for Game 3 of the Western Conference First Round against the Flames, nervous, not knowing what to expect, when teammate Tyson Barrie came up to him.

"He just pats me on the shoulder, goes, 'It's an easy league, kid,'" Makar said.

Makar made it look easy, scoring on his first shot in a 6-2 win. He would end up with six points (one goal, five assists) in 10 playoff games.

"I remember watching his first game with a couple of my buddies," Hughes said. "I was back at Michigan, and he scored, like, 10 minutes in. We're all like, 'Oh, my god, this is insane.' "

Fox, a third-round pick (No. 66) of the Flames in the 2016 NHL Draft, was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes on June 23, 2018, and to the Rangers on April 30, 2019. He spent three seasons at Harvard before he made his NHL debut this season.

"It wasn't a thing of me to rush leaving school," Fox said. "I think obviously I was willing to stay there as long as it took for me to be ready to make that jump, and I felt for me, I was always able to think the game pretty well, but there's a lot more of skating and strength and a lot of those aspects to play well at the NHL level."

They're working on those aspects, and continuing to compete, even now.

Hughes bought a pair of in-line skates and has played street hockey on the cul-de-sac at home in Michigan with his brothers: Jack, a forward the New Jersey Devils selected No. 1 in the 2019 NHL Draft, and Luke, a defenseman on the Under-17 team in USA Hockey's National Team Development Program.

Makar has a pair of in-line skates on the way. At home in Calgary, he took note of Hughes on social media.

"I mean, I saw the video of Quinn and his brothers playing," Makar said. "Figured I'd better suit up myself."

Let's hope they can suit up for real again soon.