It’s not just Alex Ovechkin making history out there for the NHL these days. Last Thursday, Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche became the first defenseman to score 30 or more goals in a season since Mike Green put up 31 during the 2008-09 season for the Washington Capitals.
In six seasons, Makar has scored 116 goals in 393 games, highly impressive offensive numbers for a blueliner. On top of that, he doesn’t turn 27 until after the 2025-26 starts.
BetCanada.com, which covers all angles for Canada sports betting enthusiasts, has seen enough to put odds on whether Makar or any other active defenseman will break the goals record. Not the one Ovechkin just set, but the one Ray Bourque holds – 410 goals as a defenseman in his illustrious career.
Player | Current Goals | Odds | Percent Chance |
Cale Makar | 116 | +175 | 36.4% |
Thomas Harley | 32 | +20000 | 0.5% |
Luke Hughes | 17 | +20000 | 0.5% |
Brock Faber | 16 | +20000 | 0.5% |
Any Other Active NHL Defenseman | - | +10000 | 1.0% |
A Future NHL Defenseman | - | +250 | 28.6% |
Record Won’t Be Broken | - | +200 | 33.3% |
These odds for catching Hall of Famer Ray Bourque’s NHL record for career goals by a defenseman are for infotainment purposes only, and you will not find them at any Canada sportsbook apps across the country.
Makar, for now, is slightly behind the pace that Bourque set. The former Boston Bruins defenseman, who finally won a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche before retiring, reached 116 goals in 363 games. Makar needed 393. Bourque was also three years younger than the current Colorado star at the time.
All that said, Makar still has a decent chance of catching Bourque. For starters, Bourque’s record was one of consistency and durability. He played 22 seasons, and it wasn’t until his final season that he didn’t score at least 10 goals.
If Makar can stay healthy, he has a chance to catch up on Bourque’s pace. That’s especially true if Colorado coach Jared Bednar keeps prioritizing Makar’s shifts to be on the ice with Nathan MacKinnon for the Avalanche, whose Stanley Cup odds continue to look good.
Makar will likely need to pile up the 30-goal seasons, and there have been just 19 of those in NHL history. Bobby Orr accounts for five of those and Paul Coffey has four. But Bourque had just one, as does Makar now, so there is a precedent for the Avs All-Star to follow.
What could also help the Calgary native is if scoring across the league continues to rise. Currently, the 32 teams are averaging 2.99 goals per game, and in the previous three seasons, that average was above three. Before that, the last season where teams averaged three a night came in 2005-06.
The NHL might never get back to the 80s when teams were approaching four goals a game, but if offense continues to go up, it certainly would help a healthy Makar make a run.
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USA Today photo by Ron Chenoy
Author
Steve is an accomplished, award-winning reporter with more than 20 years of experience covering gaming, sports, politics and business. He has written for the Associated Press, Reuters, The Louisville Courier Journal, The Center Square and numerous other publications. Based in Louisville, Ky., Steve has covered the expansion of sports betting in the U.S. and other gaming matters. He shares his expertise on BetCanada, among other sites.
