Cale Makar was the single best player in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, winning the Conn Smythe trophy as postseason MVP and leading the Colorado Avalanche to their first championship since 2001. He scored 29 points in 20 games to help the Avs clinch the Stanley Cup and proved he's the best defenseman on the planet.

But after Colorado bowed out to the Seattle Kraken in the first-round this year, the superstar defenseman admitted he could have been better.

“I feel like I let the guys down,” Makar said after Sunday's 2-1 loss in Game 7, according to the Denver Post's Bennett Durando. “I feel like I didn't have a great series. So yeah. That's just a tough one. I don't think anyone's going to be looking back and thinking everybody didn't leave it out there. Obviously, it's tough to grasp right now. It all just sums down to absolutely [hating] losing. It's just the worst part of this.”

The 24-year-old didn't have his best series against a stifling Seattle Kraken team, and also missed a game after being suspended for a dangerous late hit on Jared McCann in Game 4.

Despite his team's early exit, Makar is still proud of the Avalanche, and admitted that injuries were a factor for the team in 2022-23.

“I don't think there's ever going to be a season again – knock on wood – where we go through that many injuries,” Makar said, per Durando. “Everybody was grinding out, playing big minutes in certain months that you shouldn't be playing big minutes in.”

Injuries were a huge factor for the team this season. Captain Gabriel Landeskog didn't play a single game in 2022-23 because of a knee injury, while Makar, Nathan MacKinnon, Valeri Nichushkin, Artturi Lehkonen, Evan Rodrigues, Erik Johnson, Josh Manson, and Bowen Byram all spent time on the sidelines, per TheScore's Kayla Douglas.

The parity in the National Hockey League is as clear as it's ever been, and at the end of the day, it's intensely difficult to win a Stanley Cup. Cale Makar and the Central Division-winning Colorado Avalanche will try again in 2023-24, with most of their core still intact.