As summer slowly begins to slip away with hints of hockey's return on the horizon, the one part of the offseason which feels incomplete is the highly anticipated Cale Makar contract extension hasn't been announced by the Colorado Avalanche yet. With exactly one month until the team is collectively back on the ice again, the clock is beginning to tick louder. Hopefully, it's still all a just matter of procedure but there's more anxiety in the air than there was a month ago.
It's often brought up that the Cale Makar contract watch is beginning to seem like the beginning of the Mikko Rantanen saga. That, too, felt like an important piece of business concerning a core player which would get done eventually but it turned into a shocking trade born out of frustration. But there are several important facts to keep in mind before comparing the two Stanley Cup champions when it comes to financial matters. What should be the actual contract comparison is how fellow superstar Nathan MacKinnon's eight-year extension signed in 2022 is more closely aligned with Makar's situation. There's several facts that were forgotten since that deal came to fruition just four years ago.
At the time he signed that mega-deal in 2022 worth just over $100 million, MacKinnon was the NHL's highest paid player, there was no hometown discount. His $12.6 million Annual Average Value edged Edmonton's Connor McDavid's previous high mark by $100K. Toronto's Auston Matthews did eventually surpass MacKinnon with an extension paying him at a $13.25 million AAV but it was signed nearly a full year later in 2023 and kicked in the season after that. This means that for the entire 2023-24 season MacKinnon was the league's highest paid player in an era when the salary cap was still rising by only one million dollars per year. In the 2025-26 season the superstar Avalanche center was still the league's third highest paid player and currently sits at seventh highest heading into the upcoming season.
The other significant detail of MacKinnon's contract, which will apply to the Makar negotiations, is that he signed for 15.09% of the $83.5 million salary cap. If we extrapolate that to the projected $113.5 million salary cap for the 2027-28 season when Makar's next contract will begin, that's a base of $17.13 million per year if both parties want to match that. San Jose's Macklin Celebrini is a budding star forward and just signed for the highest cap hit in the NHL at $18.8 million AAV which also begins in the 2027-28 season. Does Makar have an incentive to beat this figure or is he only content to set salaries for defensemen? Minnesota's Quinn Hughes is keeping a close eye on negotiations but he's likely waiting for Makar to name his price first than the other way around. If Hughes does sign first, though, and sets the bar for yearly salary it could have any impact on where Makar's ask goes especially if the figure surpasses Celebrini's.
One reason for optimism is that MacKinnon put pen to pape
It's often brought up that the Cale Makar contract watch is beginning to seem like the beginning of the Mikko Rantanen saga. That, too, felt like an important piece of business concerning a core player which would get done eventually but it turned into a shocking trade born out of frustration. But there are several important facts to keep in mind before comparing the two Stanley Cup champions when it comes to financial matters. What should be the actual contract comparison is how fellow superstar Nathan MacKinnon's eight-year extension signed in 2022 is more closely aligned with Makar's situation. There's several facts that were forgotten since that deal came to fruition just four years ago.
At the time he signed that mega-deal in 2022 worth just over $100 million, MacKinnon was the NHL's highest paid player, there was no hometown discount. His $12.6 million Annual Average Value edged Edmonton's Connor McDavid's previous high mark by $100K. Toronto's Auston Matthews did eventually surpass MacKinnon with an extension paying him at a $13.25 million AAV but it was signed nearly a full year later in 2023 and kicked in the season after that. This means that for the entire 2023-24 season MacKinnon was the league's highest paid player in an era when the salary cap was still rising by only one million dollars per year. In the 2025-26 season the superstar Avalanche center was still the league's third highest paid player and currently sits at seventh highest heading into the upcoming season.
The other significant detail of MacKinnon's contract, which will apply to the Makar negotiations, is that he signed for 15.09% of the $83.5 million salary cap. If we extrapolate that to the projected $113.5 million salary cap for the 2027-28 season when Makar's next contract will begin, that's a base of $17.13 million per year if both parties want to match that. San Jose's Macklin Celebrini is a budding star forward and just signed for the highest cap hit in the NHL at $18.8 million AAV which also begins in the 2027-28 season. Does Makar have an incentive to beat this figure or is he only content to set salaries for defensemen? Minnesota's Quinn Hughes is keeping a close eye on negotiations but he's likely waiting for Makar to name his price first than the other way around. If Hughes does sign first, though, and sets the bar for yearly salary it could have any impact on where Makar's ask goes especially if the figure surpasses Celebrini's.
One reason for optimism is that MacKinnon put pen to pape
2 days ago
