Ryan Johansen was near the front of the net on the first day of practice this season with his new team when he saw Avalanche superstar Cale Makar shoot the puck from the perimeter of the offensive zone.
Johansen has been credited with a tipping a shot 76 times in his career, and scored a goal on nearly one-quarter of them. As the puck whistled past him, something strange happened.
He flinched.
It didn’t take long for Johansen to learn just how different Makar’s wrist shot can be.
“Cale came over and was like, ‘Don’t worry, ‘Jo’ — I’m not gonna hit you,’” Johansen said.