Nathan MacKinnon’s edge has never been subtle. It’s part of what makes him so hard to live with and so hard to stop.
There are plenty of ways to lead a hockey room. You can be the steady one, the calming one, the guy with the easy smile and the right words at the right time. Sidney Crosby has built a career out of pairing fierce competitiveness with a demeanor that makes him almost universally easy to be around.
MacKinnon is built differently.
He has never looked especially concerned with being the most comfortable teammate in the building. Winning is the point, and everything else tends to come second. That can mean a bark on the bench, visible frustration, or a sharp challenge when he thinks a teammate is not matching the standard he expects from himself.
And for Colorado, that approach has worked.
The Avalanche finished 55-16-11, piled up 121 points and owned the NHL’s best record on the way to the Presidents’ Trophy. MacKinnon also added a major individual honor, winning his first Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy after leading the league in goals.
But the ending was the part that mattered most to him.
Colorado was swept by the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final, and for a player wired like MacKinnon, that kind of finish doesn’t just fade away when the season ends. It sits there. It fuels the next demand, the next push, the next moment of frustration when someone else doesn’t seem to be operating at the same speed.
NHL insider Jimmy Murphy recently said that dynamic has not always landed cleanly with everyone around him.
“After this season came out, it was a lot of times during the playoffs and during games, we would see Nathan MacKinnon really reeling into his teammates, whether it’s on the ice or on the bench,” Murphy noted.
He also made clear that the respect is there.
“Everybody respects the fact that he is one of, if not the most passionate players and most dedicated players in the NHL; I’d say it’s between him and Sidney Crosby, in my opinion,” he added.
That’s where the real tension lies. A demanding teammate is not always the same thing as a bad one. Sometimes the difference is just a matter of perspective.
Murphy said superstar players can expect the people around them to match the urgency they bring every night.
“Sometimes what happens is superstars expect a little too much from their teammates. I’ve been told by people within the organization that is the case with Nathan MacKinnon. And at times it’s rubbed some of the teammates the wrong way.”
That doesn’t exactly come out of nowhere. MacKinnon has spent his career playing at a pace and intensity most players can’t hold for long, much less through an 82-game season and the grind of the playoffs.
The question is whether Colorado would want that any other way.
The sports world has plenty of examples of elite competitors who were never easy to be around. Tom Brady was famously intense, obsessive and unforgiving, yet his résumé speaks for itself: seven Super Bowl championships and five Super Bowl MVPs. Kyle Busch carried a similar reputation in NASCAR, and still won 234 races across the sport’s three premier national series.
The pattern is hard to miss. Great competitors are not always easy people. Sometimes the same traits that make them abrasive in a room are exactly what make them lethal when everything is on the line.
MacKinnon fits that mold.
He is not Crosby, and that matters. Crosby can be relentlessly competitive without losing the polished, universally likable presence that comes with him. MacKinnon doesn’t always have that same switch.
He can be funny. He can be warm. He can also make it obvious when he has no interest in wasting time.
I’ve seen both sides of it.
I’ve made MacKinnon laugh. I’ve also probably annoyed him enough that he was seconds away from telling me to take a hike.
And honestly?
I get it.
He’s there to win.
In Other News...
Avalanche Face A Painful Roster Question Behind Cale Makar Deal
The Avalanche are heading into one of those stretches every contender eventually hits, when the price of keeping a star in place starts rippling through the rest of the roster. Cale Makars next contract extension is the center of the conversation, and with Colorado still trying to build a team worthy of another Stanley Cup run, the front office has to balance elite talent with the reality of a tight salary cap.
That pressure does not stop with Makar. Artturi Lehkonen is also moving toward contract uncertainty, and the recent trade of Valeri Nichushkin shows the Avalanche are already willing to make hard choices to stay flexible. Brock Nelson could be the next name to watch if Colorado needs more cap room, a reminder that even a team with championship ambitions has to decide how much of its core it can afford to keep intact. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Fans Suddenly Have Two Massive Nathan MacKinnon Cale Makar Questions
Nathan MacKinnon is already locked in with the Avalanche on an eight-year deal that runs through 2031, so any talk about his future is mostly the kind of background noise that usually comes with a star of his stature. Still, it was enough to get attention when NHL reporter Jimmy Murphy mentioned on a podcast that Montreal could be well-positioned if MacKinnon ever became available, a reminder of how quickly big-name speculation can follow a player even when the contract situation looks settled.
Cale Makar is creating a different kind of pressure point for Colorado, because management is clearly focused on getting his next extension done and keeping the cornerstone defenseman in Denver for the long haul. The expectation around the league is that his next deal could land near the top of the market and potentially reset what an elite NHL contract looks like, which only adds to the sense that the Avalanche are staring at two massive decisions around two of their biggest stars. [Read more 🡒]