It might be an understatement to say that the Colorado Avalanche wanted to keep Cale Makar in Denver.
Makar's new extension is record-breaking and may set the tone for the free agent market for years to come.
163.2 million...
With Makar a potential UFA, Colorado knew it had to offer quite a lucrative deal to keep the superstar in an Av's uniform.
Interestingly, this contract wasn't just big. It was record-breaking. Makar signed an eight-year,163.2-million-dollar deal. This means that Makar is now the highest-paid player in the NHL with a $20.4M AAV.
Leo Carlsson and Macklin Celebrini both signed massive deals with their respective teams, leading some to think Makar, along with Quinn Hughes and others, could land even bigger deals. This deal also reminds Mammoth fans how nice they have it, with both Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther making $ 17 million AAV combined.
The question remains whether the Minnesota Wild will offer such a contract to Hughes. Hughes, also 27, could demand a similiar contract. The problem is that the Wild have already given out a massive contract recently (Kirill Kaprizov, ahem), and there are others that could demand higher contracts.
The Wild, in other words, may be willing to trade away Hughes to avoid having to have multiple really expensive players. This extension for Makar though takes on potential superstar off of the UFA market for next season.
For now, Jason Robertson, Hughes, and Nikita Kucherov remain as potential UFA's. But this massive contract took one potential massive fish off of the market.
Add us as a preferred source on Google