Avalanche newcomer Devon Toews, a coveted two-way defenseman, has a lot in common with the guy he might play next to on Colorado’s first pairing.
Toews (pronounced Taves) and Cale Makar are Canadians who took the U.S. college route, playing junior-A in Canada before joining relatively obscure programs at Quinnipiac and UMass, respectively. They never played against each other in college but they might make up a highly skilled right-shot/left-shot pairing for the Avs.
“We both went East Coast with colleges, to programs that aren’t North Dakotas, Denvers, Boston Colleges — more up-and-coming programs,” Toews said on a Zoom call this week, after agreeing to a four-year, $16.