The 2022-23 NHL season is just days away, and the Colorado Avalanche are ready to defend their Stanley Cup title. While the Avs have a loaded roster all around, their success hinges on superstar defenseman Cale Makar. At just 23 years old, Makar has established himself as the best defenseman in the league, and this season, he'll become a true contender for the Hart Trophy as the league's MVP.

Makar is coming off a stellar season, in which he racked up 28 goals and 58 assists. He then continued to amaze in the playoffs, with 29 points in 20 games to capture the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Despite his outstanding performance, he only finished at eighth in Hart voting.

Makar will have another huge season, and he'll take home some hardware to show for it. Here are a few reasons why the Avs star will win the Hart Trophy this season.

3 Reasons Cale Makar will win 2022-23 Hart Trophy

3. Stacked roster around him

Yes, the defending Stanley Cup champions have an amazing roster, how shocking. Colorado lost some big pieces this offseason, including Nazem Kadri, Andre Burakovsky, and Darcy Kuemper. However, this roster is still arguably the best in the league.

Superstar center Nathan MacKinnon leads the way fresh off a shiny new contract, and some would argue that he's even better than Makar. The rest of the Avs forward core is impressive too, with Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichuskin being some of the other standouts.

Cale Makar also has some outstanding talent with him on the blue line. Devon Toews is one of the best analytical defensemen in the league and could be the top defender on many other teams. Bowen Byram and Samuel Girard are young blue-liners with great upside, while Josh Manson brings a great veteran presence.

Goaltender is the biggest question mark for the Avs, with the new tandem of Alexandar Georgiev and Pavel Francouz being largely unproven. With a roster as strong as this though, they don't have to be world-beaters for Colorado to win. This stacked roster all but assures the Avs will be near the top of the league standings, and that bodes well for Makar's MVP hopes.

2. Makar still hasn't peaked yet

The most ridiculous part about Makar's performance is that he's doing all of this at such a young age. Makar celebrates his 24th birthday on October 30, and he is already the consensus best defender in the league. He already has a Norris Trophy, a Stanley Cup, and a Conn Smythe Trophy, and plenty more trophies are sure to follow.

Makar's career so far only becomes more impressive when looking at some other great defensemen of this generation. Victor Hedman took eight seasons to win the Norris, and 10 to win the Conn Smythe and Stanley Cup. Roman Josi took seven seasons to win the Norris and he is still looking for the playoff hardware.

The fact that Cale Makar has done all of this in his first three seasons is simply remarkable. The Calgary native has many years of dominance ahead of him, and the scariest part is he can still get better. If he does, it'll be hard to deny him the Hart.

1. Makar is one of a kind

Probably the biggest hurdle in the way of Makar winning the Hart is his position. Hart voters have not been kind to defensemen, with the last to win the award being Chris Pronger in 2000. In fact, no other defensemen has even been a finalist since then.

If there's one defender to snap that streak, though, it's Cale Makar. He is putting up numbers not seen in years, and doing it at a very young age. He is going to win the award sooner or later, and this season is as good a chance as any.