Evening Notes: Makar, Garand, Evangelista

Avalanche superstar Cale Makar is out for tonight’s prime time ESPN divisional matchup in Dallas. Evan Rawal of the Denver Gazette reports that his wife is due at “any moment” as she is expecting twins.

The eight-year pro will be taken out of the running for his first possible 82 game (rather, 84 starting this season) campaign in 2026-27, as a result of the quite justified reason. In their first five games, the 28-year-old has been as dominant as usual with seven points. It’s a very small sample size just 6% into the season, but so far Makar has started 40% of his work in the defensive zone. If there’s any way that holds up from here on out, it’ll be new territory for the dynamic puck mover, showcasing his incredible development into an all-around defender and annual Norris candidate.

Colorado will lean on Sam Malinski to play alongside Devon Toews on their first pairing, while Noah Juulsen slots in on the third pair. A first-round pick of Montreal 11 years ago, Juulsen has settled in as a no-frills depth option who managed 52 games with the Flyers last season. With the club thinking of their #1 defenseman and his family tonight there’s a shot Makar could return by tomorrow night as the table flips, Dallas traveling to Denver. If not then, it’s safe to assume he’ll be back by Friday, again at home, against Pittsburgh. 

Elsewhere across the league:

• Relieved to have him in their back pocket after the news of Igor Shesterkin going down for the season, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet speculated on yesterday’s episode of 32 Thoughts that Rangers goaltender Dylan Garand was nearly claimed off waivers two weeks ago. Unable to make the team yet again after four consecutive years holding down the crease in AHL Hartford, the 24-year-old has been terrific in small stints with New York over the past two years, but still passed over by veteran backups, this time Joonas Korpisalo. As devastating as the news was to lose Shesterkin, who was off to an excellent start with a 1.79 goals-against-average and even scoring a goalie goal, Garand so far has made the most of his opportunity. Winning both of his starts so far including a shutout over Detroit, Garand has what it takes to hold things down and save the Rangers from shopping for outside help. It’s anybody’s guess which teams seriously considered snatching him off the wire, but Ottawa stands out after losing Leevi Merilainen to the Canucks, as well as Winnipeg, who went on to claim Clay Stevenson from Washington.

• With action already underway on what will be a busy night across the league with all 32 teams on the schedule, New Jersey’s Luke Evangelista was unable to play in Detroit due to illness. Manager of Content Amanda Stein shared that the new Devil was starting to feel ill during last night’s loss to Ottawa. He stayed back home to rest. Acquired from Nashville in September on a trade out of left field, Evangelista is off to a start in Newark totally worthy of the first and second-round picks given up for him. In five games the 24-year-old has two goals and an assist, scoreless in his last showing which is reasonable considering his sickness and limited minutes. In his place comes a motivated Stefan Noesen on the third line, who cleared waivers last week only to be summoned again yesterday due to Connor Brown’s IR placement. Losing his spot after a disappointing 2025-26 with three goals in 38 games, as new general manager Sunny Mehta brought in several new forwards, it’s a contract year for Noesen. Already a player who has had several highs and lows at age 33, assuming he won’t pot 22 goals again, the former first-round pick still brings physicality and the ability to wreak havoc in front of the net each night.