Man of the week: Brooks Macek

KHL.ru continues its weekly column ‘Man of the week’ with Brooks Macek. The German forward had a striking opening of the season, scoring points in each game played so far and contributing to Avtomobilist’s excellent start.

Many KHL international players, for a reason or another, stay in the league just for a year or two, then go elsewhere. However, many other ones, are here to stay. One of them is Brooks Macek. The native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, is at his fourth season in our league, all of them played in Yekaterinburg. He was instrumental for the Motormen right away, putting together 46 (24+22) points in his first season and establishing a record for German scoring, surpassing Felix Schutz, who had 38 in 2013-2014 for Admiral. And if he keeps on going on as he started the season, he may surpass himself and establish a new height.

In the first three games of the season, Macek accumulated five points for the Yekaterinburg side. First, he had one goal and one assist in Avtomobilist’s opener against Lokomotiv (4:2). Then, on Sunday, the Motormen got the best of Severstal, with Macek founding the back of the net with less than three minutes to go in the third period to give Avtomobilist its second straight victory. Earlier, the forward had an assist when Curtis Valk opened the score in the opening frame. Yesterday, Avtomobilist failed to achieve its third straight victory, yet he netted his third of the season on a powerplay stint in the first period. Macek was on the ice when Valk made it a 3-3 game late in the closing frame, but then Avtomobilist surrendered in OT.

Early years

Brooks Macek was born in Winnipeg on May 15, 1992, with his father coming from Geldern, a city in the German region of North Rhine-Westphalia, close to the border with the Netherlands. As most of other players born there, he started playing in the WHL, for the Tri-City Americans. After two and a half seasons in Kennewich, Washington, he was moved to the Calgary Hitmen. For both teams, he enjoyed great success. In the meantime, he was drafted in the NHL by the Detroit Red Wings, in the sixth round of the 2010 selections, but he never played there.

Move to Europe

After ending his junior career, Macek’s career took an unusual step as the forward decided to follow his roots and sign in Germany. 

“My agent was talking to some teams over in Germany because I had the potential to get the dual citizenship,” Macek said at the time. “There were a couple of different teams with a couple of different offers. The two-year deal with Iserlohn was the best fit.”

Macek ended up spending three seasons with the Iserlohn Roosters, and after 154 DEL appearances with the team and 112 (51+61) points, plus 22 postseason games (with nine goals and seven assists), the forward decided to move on. In May 2016, he signed with fellow DEL side EHC Munchen – one of the top teams in the German DEL. He first had 23 tallies with 22 assists en route to winning the 2017 German championship with the Munich side. In 2018, he won a second straight DEL title, with 34 goals and 25 assists in 67 games.

Earlier on, however, Macek had his debut with team Germany, at the 2015 Deutschland Cup. He will move on representing his country at the 2018 Olympics in South Korea, where he helped the team achieving its highest finish to date, losing the gold medal game to Team Russia. On June 12, 2018, Macek decided to return to North America, signing a one-year deal with the Vegas Golden Knights. In his first professional season in North America, Macek was assigned by the Golden Knights to the Chicago Wolves of the AHL. There, he showcased excellent offensive instincts, earning a top-line role and being third in scoring with 60 (26+34) points in 64 games. He posted 5 goals in 17 playoff games as the Wolves reached the Calder Cup finals.

On Jun 21, 2019, the German/Canadian forward left the Vegas Golden Knights as an impending restricted free agent, agreeing to a one-year contract Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg of the KHL.

Move to the KHL

As said before, Macek was an impact player since his first season on the Urals. Avtomobilist relied on his offensive skills and drive to reach the Gagarin Cup playoffs in his first two seasons with the Motormen. However, the 2021-2022 wasn’t was Avtomobilist was expecting, failing to reach the elimination stage despite Macek scoring almost a point a game. Moreover, he only lacks 13 points to reach Eduard Lewandowski as Germany’s all-time KHL top scorer – he should achieve yet another record quite soon, especially if going on at such a pace.