- Cale Makar says staying in Colorado was always the plan and calls the new deal a “major step” toward it
- The eight-year, $163.2 million extension carries a $20.4 million cap hit, the richest in NHL history
- Read below for what Makar said about Joe Sakic promising publicly that the contract would get done
Cale Makar never planned on finding out what the other 31 teams would pay him.
The Avalanche defenseman sat down with Lauren Gardner of Altitude Sports on Friday, not long after signing an eight-year, $163.2 million extension, and made it clear Colorado was the only place he wanted this to land.
Gardner asked him how the day was hitting him.
“I feel like now it’s starting to sink in. I think when you’re going through the process, you don’t really know what’s going to happen. My intention was always to be an Av, hopefully for life, and I think this is a major step towards that.”
Watch the full sit-down:
Joe Sakic spent the summer telling anyone who asked that the deal would be signed before the season. Makar was asked whether hearing his general manager say that out loud made the negotiation any easier.
“(That) probably helped with the contract negotiation. It says a little bit about him being so bold.”
No one in the league has seen a number like this one. Makar’s $20.4 million average annual value is the richest in NHL history, and he is the first player to reach $20 million a season. That clears the $18.8 million Macklin Celebrini got from San Jose on July 29.
Makar also said neither side felt much of a rush once the talking started, per NHL.com.
“I feel like there was a lot of communication from both sides at all times, and these things take a lot of time. I think it was important to probably get it done before the season started, and I’m happy to have it done.”
He put up 79 points (20 goals, 59 assists) in 75 games last season, third among NHL defensemen, and finished second to Zach Werenski in Norris Trophy voting. Two of those trophies are already his, from 2022 and 2025.
Six Norris finalist nods in his first seven seasons put him next to Bobby Orr, the only other player to manage it. Three straight 20-goal years make him the first defenseman to do that since Phil Housley and Al MacInnis in 1992.
Our timeline marked the richest contract in league history by going back to the overtime winner he dropped on Chicago, which still looks unfair:
That deal begins next season and runs through 2034-35, which would keep Makar in Colorado until he is 36.
