Cale Makar just crossed $20 million a year and half the league is acting like the number fell out of the sky. It did not. Colorado handed him eight years and $163.2 million because he is the best defenseman on the planet and the cap was never going to wait for the pearl-clutchers to catch up.
$20.4 million AAV. First player in NHL history to clear the twenty-million threshold. Full no-movement clause. Roughly $127.6 million in signing bonuses stacked across the term. The extension starts in 2027-28 and runs through 2034-35, when Makar will be 36. His current deal still has one year left at $9 million. Colorado did not blink. They paid.
I already hear the replies. “Defensemen do not get that money.” “The Avalanche just handcuffed themselves.” Cool. Makar has 507 points in 470 career games. He leads every defenseman in goals and points since he entered the league in 2019. Last season he put up 20 goals and 59 assists in 75 games. Third straight 20-goal year from the blue line. Two Norris Trophies. Conn Smythe. Stanley Cup. Ninety points in ninety playoff games. If that résumé does not clear twenty million in a rising-cap league, the category is broken.
Makar’s statement after the signing was pure franchise guy: “I am so excited and humbled to continue to wear the Avalanche sweater and represent this incredible organization and community.” He thanked the Kroenke family, Joe Sakic, his wife and family, the Bartletts, and the fans who made Colorado a second home. Then he aimed the whole thing at one target: “continuing to work toward our goal of bringing the Stanley Cup back to the Mile High City.” That is not a player collecting a bag. That is a player who already knows what the bag is for.
The Sticker Shock Crowd Is Arguing Yesterday’s Cap
The previous total-value record was Kirill Kaprizov’s $136 million. The previous high AAV sat at Macklin Celebrini’s $18.8 million. Makar did not edge those numbers. He vaporized them. And the people writing the “salary inflation is out of control” pieces are the same ones who lost their minds the last three times the ceiling moved. The projected 2027-28 cap sits around $113.5 million. Makar’s hit starts as a big slice and shrinks as the pie keeps growing. Colorado already has its core locked through at least 2031. That is the actual operational win under the fireworks.
His five-on-five impact over the last three seasons is the quiet part the box-score glazers skip. Expected goals share north of 54 percent. Colorado outscoring opponents 220-157 with him on the ice in those situations. He plays nearly twenty-five minutes a night and still produces like a first-line forward. You do not find that unicorn twice. You pay him before someone else tries.
Hughes Is About to Make This Number Look Soft
Minnesota still has to deal with Quinn Hughes. Hughes is neck-and-neck with Makar as the best defenseman alive, and Bill Guerin just watched the market reset in public. Waiting until after Makar’s number dropped is the kind of timing that turns a negotiation into a hostage situation. Every agent in the league just screenshot the Avalanche release and forwarded it. The next elite blue-liner who hits free agency or extension eligibility is not negotiating against Makar’s old $9 million deal. He is negotiating against $20.4 million and a full no-move.
I do not care how many depth forwards Colorado has to shuffle to make the spreadsheet balance. You build around the player who can end a series by himself. Makar already did it in 2022. He is still doing the regular-season version every night. The Avalanche decided nine more years of that was worth the largest contract in league history. They were right.
Colorado did not overpay. They bought the only defenseman currently worth the number and they bought him before the market finished climbing. The receipt is $163.2 million. The return is the best player at his position locked until 2035. Everybody else is now bidding against a ghost Colorado just made real.
