A pair of Makars on the Avalanche roster? Taylor hopes to one day join older brother Cale

DENVER (AP) — Should Taylor Makar someday make the roster, big brother Cale needs to consider altering the back of his Colorado Avalanche sweater.

That's the running joke of Taylor, anyway — a “C. Makar” modification from simply "Makar" to make room for “T. Makar.”

One Makar on the blue line and another at forward is something they've thought about since they were growing up in Calgary, Alberta. Because of their age difference — Cale is more than 2 years older — the tandem has never really been on the same elite team.

If it happens with the Avalanche, they could join the likes of the Hughes brothers, who have Jack and Luke suiting up together with the New Jersey Devils (brother Quinn plays for Vancouver).

Cale, of course, is already well-established as one of the league's top defensemen and coming off a season in which he won the Norris Trophy. Taylor keeps working his way toward the NHL. He started last year at the University of Maine before joining the Avalanche's American Hockey League affiliate, the Colorado Eagles, for the remainder of the season.

When big brother speaks, Taylor carefully listens.

“I learn a lot from him,” said Taylor, who’s taking part in the Avalanche’s development camp this week but not skating as he rehabs from an upper body injury. “Obviously, we train together. Do everything. It’s just cool.”

He cracked: “Hopefully, he has to put a ‘C’ (for C. Makar) on his (sweater)."

Although, it's not a requirement by the league.

The Makar brothers are highly competitive in whatever hobby, activity or sport in which they challenge each other.

By Taylor's scorecard, he reigns over Cale in cribbage, basketball, board games and video games. He gives Cale the edge on the golf course and sometimes in tennis.

To hear Cale tell it, though, the rules sometimes get bent.

“He’s the feisty little brother that would cheap-shot you when everything was said and done," Cale recently said. “I’d usually win and then for some reason I’d call it quits and he kind of gave me cheap shots. As kids, we had a lot of fun like that. It definitely brings back a lot of memories. I think it’s helped us later in life in competitiveness."

Cale made his NHL debut in the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs and has been a goal-scoring, puck-defending force ever since. He's coming off a season in which he had 30 goals as he became the first NHL defenseman to reach that mark since Mike Green scored 31 for Washington in 2008-09.

No surprise, Cale was awarded the Norris Trophy as the league's top defenseman (he also won the award in 2022, the season Colorado captured the Stanley Cup).

Now this was a surprise — the secret celebration his younger brother helped spring to commemorate the achievement. Taylor played a role in organizing a golf outing for the unsuspecting Cale as family and friends gathered in the backyard for the trophy presentation.

When the group stopped by during their round, everyone was waiting.

“It turned out well, and he was pretty excited,” explained Taylor, a seventh-round pick by Colorado in 2021. “It was a cool, special moment for all the people that are really close to him and our family to share together.”

For Taylor, there's no added pressure having “Makar” on the back of his sweater given his brother's success. In fact, it’s “pretty cool,” he conceded.

Big brother's biggest piece of advice?

“Just be myself,” Taylor said.

Cale, 26, certainly is proud of his younger brother. The 24-year-old Taylor is coming off a season at Maine where he scored 18 goals and had 12 assists in 38 games. He then signed an entry-level deal and joined the Eagles, scoring a goal in five regular-season games.

“I think he’s got a lot of intangibles that once he puts them all together he’s got a really bright career ahead,” said Cale, who was the fourth overall pick by the Avalanche in 2017. “It’s cool to be able to have family this close now.”

In April, Cale ventured up to Loveland, Colorado, to watch his brother play for the Eagles. Of course, there were extenuating circumstances — Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog was with the Eagles on a conditioning assignment in his recovery from a serious knee injury. It marked Landeskog's first professional game since Colorado's Cup run in 2022.

“First time I’ve seen (Taylor) play live at least since (youth hockey)," said Cale, who along with teammate Nathan MacKinnon was part of Team Canada's first six players chosen to take part in the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.

Taylor's road to making the Avalanche roster to start the season figures to be difficult. Colorado is a bona fide title contender and stacked at forward.

“Just keep working hard, keep learning,” Taylor said. “Got a ways to go, but just put everything out there.”

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

FILE - Maine forward Taylor Makar (18) reacts during the first period of an NCAA hockey game against Northeastern on Oct. 26, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Greg M. Cooper, file)

FILE - Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar looks on during a face-off during the first period of Game 5 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson, file)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee law that threatens local officials with felony charges and possible imprisonment if they vote for so-called "sanctuary policies" on immigration has been ruled unconstitutional after the state declined to defend it in court.

On Wednesday, Nashville Chancellor Russell Perkins signed an agreed order involving the Tennessee attorney general's office, the local district attorney and the seven Nashville-Davidson County metro council members who are plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging the policy.

For months, Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti's office has made it clear that it would not defend the provision. Skrmetti, a Republican, told reporters in September that the Constitution has “absolute immunity for all legislative votes, whether at the federal, state, or local levels" even though it is illegal for Tennessee cities and counties to enact sanctuary laws.

Council member Clay Capp said in a news release that the case's outcome ensures that Tennessee elected officials can represent their constituents "without looking over their shoulder at criminal penalties."

“This settlement affirms a basic American principle: the government cannot prosecute you for how you vote,” Capp said in a news release from the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, one of the legal groups representing the plaintiffs. “Tennessee tried to gag local officials with threats of prison time, but the Constitution doesn’t allow that."

Earlier last year, the GOP-supermajority Legislature and Republican Gov. Bill Lee approved legislation to aid the Trump administration with immigration enforcement. It includes the potential Class E felony — punishable by up to six years in prison — against any local elected official voting for or adopting a so-called sanctuary policy, as defined in state law. This could include voting in favor of local government restrictions that impede ICE efforts to detain migrants in the U.S. without permission.

Republican lawmakers kept the provision in a broader immigration bill despite warnings from legislative counsel that the penalty could be unconstitutional.

Legislative GOP leaders defended the penalty, including House Majority Leader William Lamberth, who has called it “the easiest felony in the world to avoid.”

In 2019, sanctuary cities became illegal in Tennessee, threatening governments that don't comply with the loss of state economic development money.

FILE - The Tennessee Capitol is seen, April 23, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)