Makar OT goal for Avalanche latest in debate for best of season

Cale Makar got the attention of the hockey world Tuesday with his spectacular overtime goal for the Colorado Avalanche against the Chicago Blackhawks. The defenseman spun away from Chicago forward Kirby Dach along the left wall before deking from forehand to backhand and shooting just under the crossbar.

The goal set the internet on fire, was the top play of the night on ESPN, and entered the conversation for best goal of the 2021-22 season, joining Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers skating through four New York Rangers to score Nov. 5, and Trevor Zegras and Sonny Milano of the Anaheim Ducks taking "The Michigan" goal to a new level against the Buffalo Sabres on Dec. 7.
But which right now is the goal of the season? We had six NHL.com writers and editors weigh in on the growing debate:

Makar magic

The clear choice here is Makar. He took a pass from forward Nathan MacKinnon and skated behind the net to the left circle. Then he spun to his left, evading Dach, and scored on a backhand over goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. Makar said he was a little bit lucky. A humble answer, but I don't think luck had much to do with it. His stellar skills were on full display. Makar, who won the Calder Trophy voted as NHL rookie of the year in 2019-20, will probably win a Norris Trophy (or a few) as the defenseman voted the best in the NHL. There's no doubt he'll make a few highlight reels with his goal-scoring prowess as well, and his goal against the Blackhawks likely will be the finest of that collection. -- Tracey Myers, staff writer
I'm trying to avoid recency bias because the Makar goal was scored Tuesday, but I can't overlook what the Avalanche defenseman did. Speed, power, finesse, pinpoint precision. Each of those skills was on display when Makar lost his check, Dach, by turning on a dime in the left circle before accelerating toward the net, going backhand-forward-backhand to keep Fleury guessing, and finishing under the crossbar for the winner. Just an incredible nine seconds of Makar greatness, start to finish. And it was a clutch goal too, lifting Colorado to a 4-3 win.-- Jim Cerny, senior editor

McDavid beats four Rangers

Beating one opposing player is good. Two is better. Three is impressive. But skating past four defenders en route to a tying goal with 2:59 remaining in the third period? That's McDavid in a nutshell. The Oilers center pulled off the nearly unbelievable feat Nov. 5, using his patience and his puck-handling skill to outwit and outmaneuver four Rangers -- Dryden Hunt, Kevin Rooney, Jacob Trouba and
Patrik Nemeth
-- before deking goalie Alexandar Georgiev enough to give himself the open net and the easy tuck-in. The goal, which came on a move Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl said was "like a knife through butter," sent the game to overtime, where Draisaitl scored for a 6-5 comeback victory. And that's what's craziest about McDavid's goal, which in my mind is the best of the season so far: How easy he made it seem. As Edmonton forward Zach Hyman later told ESPN, "It's almost normal for him to make a play like that." Which, somehow, it is. Still, even as we become accustomed to daily brilliance from McDavid, there are some goals that tower above the rest. Like this one. -- Amalie Benjamin, staff writer
I have to go with Amalie on this one, and I'm not trying to take away anything from Makar or Zegras and Milano, but rather give the credit to McDavid. Though we are used to seeing spectacular goals from McDavid on a regular basis, he seems to raise the bar with each new highlight. I had to watch the goal against the Rangers at least four or five times to make sure what I was seeing actually happened. Not only did McDavid skate through four Rangers, he did so with ease. Not one of those players got his stick near the puck or made him break stride. And, oh yeah, he still had a goalie to beat, which he did, again, with ease. And lost in all of it is the patience he showed in the neutral zone before attacking the Rangers, waiting until the moment was right to go to the net. I can't wait to see what he does for an encore.-- Bill Price, Editor-in-Chief

Zegras, Milano and "The Michigan" pass

We've seen "The Michigan" goal. Now we have "The Michigan" pass into the alley-oop goal courtesy of the creative combination of Zegras and Milano, the Ducks forwards who wowed the hockey world in Buffalo on Dec. 7. Zegras settled the puck on his stick blade the same way former University of Michigan forward Mike Legg did in 1996 when he first scored on "The Michigan," the lacrosse-style wraparound goal from behind the net into the near top corner. Except Zegras, ever the playmaker, flipped the puck from behind the net up and over the crossbar to the front, where Milano stood. Milano batted the puck out of the air and into the net, the NHL version of an alley-oop slam dunk for the first goal in the Ducks' 2-0 win at the Sabres. Zegras was so surprised it worked that he put his hands on his head and had a look of disbelief when Milano went to celebrate with him. He even was giggling on the bench as replays were shown, still in shock that they could pull it off. It's the goal of the season so far because it gets 10s across the board for creativity, difficulty, skill and artistic form. It's a goal we'd never seen in the NHL. -- Dan Rosen, senior writer

McDavid's goal, though awesome, wasn't all that surprising coming from him. Makar's goal was a thing of beauty, yet we've seen similar plays before. But for Zegras to have the presence of mind to make the pass from behind the net to Milano was a risky play that paid off. Zegras could have tried to make something happen himself with a wraparound or a stuff attempt, but the fact that he saw another way of scoring as a possibility showed his talent. The move may have worked in practice before, but to see it executed in a game was amazing, and we may not see it again anytime soon. -- David Satriano, staff writer