Jacob MacDonald
Jacob MacDonald | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 26, 1993 United States |
| Occupation | Professional ice hockey defenseman |
| Years active | 2014–present |
| Known for | Playing for Colorado Avalanche (NHL) and Colorado Eagles (AHL) |
Jacob Edward MacDonald (born February 26, 1993) is an American professional ice hockey defenseman currently signed with the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League (NHL) and playing for their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles, in the American Hockey League (AHL).
Playing career
MacDonald began his hockey journey within Compuware's midget program based in Brighton, Michigan, before progressing to junior hockey competition with the Waterloo Black Hawks of the United States Hockey League. He then competed at the collegiate level for Cornell University in the ECAC, where he concentrated on honing his defensive skills, accumulating a total of 21 points over 104 games.
Despite not being selected in the NHL Draft, MacDonald launched his professional career late in the 2014–15 season by signing with the Elmira Jackals of the ECHL. During the 2015–16 campaign, he tallied 17 goals and 37 points, which earned him a place on the ECHL All-Rookie Team and led to his AHL debut with the Springfield Falcons. The following season, after starting with the Toledo Walleye, he secured an AHL contract with the Albany Devils, where he contributed eight goals and 24 points over 34 games.
In the 2017–18 season, MacDonald distinguished himself as the top-scoring defenseman in the AHL, amassing 20 goals and 55 points for the Binghamton Devils. His outstanding performance garnered him selection to both the AHL All-Star Game and the First All-Star Team. As an unrestricted free agent, he signed a two-year, two-way NHL contract with the Florida Panthers on July 3, 2018. MacDonald earned a spot on Florida’s opening night roster for the 2018–19 season and scored on his very first NHL shot during his debut appearance. After two games at the NHL level, he was reassigned to Florida’s AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds, where he led all defensemen with 14 goals and totaled 43 points across 72 contests.
On June 29, 2019, MacDonald was traded to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Dominic Toninato. In April 2021, he received a two-game suspension following an incident on ice involving Ryan Hartman.
During that season, MacDonald initially served as a healthy scratch but was later utilized in both defensive and forward capacities due to injuries within the team. On January 25, 2023, he was traded alongside Martin Kaut to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Matt Nieto and Ryan Merkley.
Following the conclusion of his contract with San Jose, MacDonald returned to Colorado by signing a two-year, two-way contract on July 1, 2024. In his inaugural season with Colorado’s AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles, he set a new franchise record by netting 31 goals—the highest ever by an AHL defenseman—matched his personal best of 55 points, earned the prestigious Eddie Shore Award as the league’s top defenseman, and was named to the First Team All-Star roster for a second occasion.
Career statistics
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 2009–10 | Compuware | T1EHL | 28 | 4 | 11 | 15 | 14 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2009–10 | Waterloo Black Hawks | USHL | 29 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2010–11 | Waterloo Black Hawks | USHL | 58 | 8 | 22 | 30 | 42 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 2011–12 | Cornell University | ECAC | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2012–13 | Cornell University | ECAC | 33 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 39 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2013–14 | Cornell University | ECAC | 32 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 4 | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2014–15 | Cornell University | ECAC | 31 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 8 | |||||||
| {
{2014–15 ECHL season}} | ||||||||||||||
|} | Elmira Jackals | ECHL | 8 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — |- |2015–16 ECHL season |Elmira Jackals |ECHL |72 |17 |20 |37 |34 |— |— |— |— |— |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" |2015–16 AHL season |Springfield Falcons |American Hockey League |1 |0 |0 |0 |0 |— |— |— |— |— |- |- |2016–17 ECHL season |Toledo Walleye |ECHL |30 |7 |19 |26 |24 |— |— |— |— |— |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" |2016–17 AHL season |Albany Devils |AHL |34 |8 |16 |24 |9 |2 |0 |0 |0 |0 |- |- |2017–18 AHL season |Binghamton Devils |AHL |75 |20 |35 |55 |35 |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |-|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"|2018–19 NHL season||Florida Panthers||NHL||2||1||0||1||0|| — || — || — || — || — |-|- 2018–19 AHL season || Springfield Thunderbirds || AHL ||72 ||14 ||29 ||43 ||27 || — || — || — || — || — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"|2019–20 AHL season||Colorado Eagles||AHL||56||16||26||42||22|| — || — || — || — || — |-|- 2020–21 NHL season || Colorado Avalanche || NHL ||33 ||1 ||8 ||9 ||8 || — || — || — || — || — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"|2021–22 AHL season||Colorado Eagles||AHL||33||10||15||25||30||7||1||4||5||2|-|- 2021–22 NHL season || Colorado Avalanche || NHL ||8 ||0 ||0 ||0 ||2 || — || — || — || — || — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"|2022–23 NHL season||Colorado Avalanche||NHL||33||0||2||2||11||—||—||—||—||—|-|-2022–23|||San Jose Sharks|||NHL|||25|||1|||5|||6|||12|||—|||—|||—|||—|||—|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"|2023–24 NHL season||San Jose Sharks||NHL||34||7||2||9||23|||||||||||||-|-2023–24 AHL season|||San Jose Barracuda|||AHL|||6|||0|||4|||4|||2|||—|||—|||—|||—|||—|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"|2024–25 AHL season|||Colorado Eagles|||AHL|||63|||31|||24|||55|||46|||9|||0|||4|||4|||4|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! colspan="3" | NHL totals !135 !10 !17 !27 !56 ! — ! — ! — ! — ! — | }
Awards and honors
| Award | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| ECHL | ||
| All-Rookie Team | 2016 | |
| AHL | ||
| All-Star Game | 2018 | |
| First All-Star Team | 2018, 2025 | |
| Second All-Star Team | 2020 | |
| Eddie Shore Award | 2025 | |