- Cale Makar signed an eight-year extension worth $163.2 million with the Avalanche
- His $20.4 million cap hit is the highest in NHL history, passing Macklin Celebrini
- Read below for the money breakdown and the deadline Colorado was racing
Cale Makar is the NHL’s first $20 million man.
Colorado announced Friday that it signed its star defenseman to an eight-year extension worth $163.2 million. The cap hit comes in at $20.4 million, the largest in league history, and the deal runs through 2034-35 with a full no-move clause.
That clears the $18.8 million Macklin Celebrini got from San Jose on July 29, a record that lasted barely a month.
Makar spoke directly to Avalanche fans in the team’s release.
“Colorado has truly become a second home to us, and we are so grateful to be here. I look forward to getting back on the ice with my teammates and continuing to work toward our goal of bringing the Stanley Cup back to the Mile High City.”
Joe Sakic spent the summer telling anyone who asked that this would get finished before the season. He sounded like a man who had been holding his breath anyway.
“Cale is a generational defenseman and his accomplishments speak for themselves. We are beyond thrilled to get this deal done and have Cale in an Avalanche sweater for the next decade.”
A hard date was pushing this along. Teams can hand their own players eight years only through Sept. 15, and starting Sept. 16 the new CBA caps those extensions at seven.
The raise does not hit right away. Makar plays this season on the last year of his six-year, $54 million deal at a $9 million cap hit, and the new money starts in 2027-28.
Most of it arrives as signing bonuses, with seven of the eight seasons paying at least $16.8 million up front. The $20.4 million cap hit also sits just under the $20.8 million maximum he was allowed to sign for.
Here’s what it makes him:
The first NHL player at a $20 million AAV, and he got there playing defense. The names ahead of him on the pay scale were all forwards.
Nobody in Denver had to argue the case. Makar owns two Norris Trophies, a Conn Smythe, a Calder and a Stanley Cup, and he finished second to Zach Werenski in Norris voting last season after putting up 79 points in 75 games.
He sits at 507 points in 470 career games, the most by any defenseman in Colorado and Quebec Nordiques franchise history, plus 90 points in 90 playoff games. Bobby Orr is the only other player to be a Norris finalist six times in his first seven seasons.
Thursday’s version of this story ended with Colorado needing to put a term and a cap hit on paper. The Avalanche filled in both blanks with the biggest numbers the league has ever printed.
