Cale Makar Signs Eight-Year Extension | Full Sit-Down Interview

Cale Makar Signs Eight-Year Extension | Full Sit-Down Interview

August 29, 2026



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View Comments (26)

  2. He now eats damn near 25% of the team cap. This team is sunk. Two greats will now ride out their careers with a few playoffs runs but they will never sniff another cup. Welcome to mediocracy. Even if this contract looks better in 4 years it won't matter… Gabe, Kadri, Nelson, Lecky, Schwartz, Toews, Manson are all aging. Mac and Makar will be around for a while and win nothing of consequence, sadly.

    EDIT: actual math for those with some tism:

    MacKinnon's this coming season is 12.12% of the team's cap. In 4 years, Makar's will be, on the absolute most optimistic side of things, over 15% of team cap. If lucky, it will be under 15.5%. At 8% increase year over year, 15.41% of team cap. To be clear, Nathan MacKinnon has never, not once in his career, took up over 15.1% of your team's cap. If we're less optimistic, Makar could easily still be taking up over 17% of team cap in 4 years.

    On cup winning rosters, the highest-paid player on the roster typically maxes out in the 11% to 13% range. Once a player crosses that threshold, it becomes mathematically difficult for a general manager to afford the quality depth needed for a two-month playoff grind. The Avs climbed out from under Mack's contract just in time for this…

    This is completely unprecedented territory for a D man in the cap era. Next closest is year 1 of Karlsson's big contract, where in 2019-20, he took up 14.11% of San Jose's cap.

    Only 3 players have ever gotten over 17% of the cap: year 1 of Brad Richards, year 1 of Leo Carlsson, and years 1, up to maybe 3?, of Makar's.

    For D men, only Karlsson and Doughty have ever gotten over 13%

    Everyone else falls between 10 and 12.5

    This is new territory no matter how you slice it, and chances are the Avs are going to find it very hard to keep their contention window open. And in five years (when this contract doesn't burden the cap so much), a lot of the guys on the Avs roster are retired or near retirement and Mac and Makar are 35/32. Oh, and the cabinet is bone dry – no picks and a bottom 3 prospect pool.

    Like it or not Avs fans, the window is closing, sadly. I for one, was really hoping this core was going to win multipole cups but then Gabe and Nuke and losing Naz/Mikko and injuries… Oh, what could have been. Here's to hoping they can squeeze one more out. Reality tells me it's got to be next year and we'll probably see them trade what little they have left to go all in.

    For those who have outsourced their emotional wellbeing to a sports team and prefer to call me a "hater" so they needn't look at reality, life is better when sports can be enjoyed for what they are. Btw, Cale is my favorite player.

  17. As a Colorado native, I have loved the avalanche since began and I have loved since you came to our team because your number is my number you see my grandma and my birthday is the eighth month and the eighth day and my bucket list items are assigned jersey from you. I hope one day I get it. I’m glad you’re staying.

  19. Great player but they paid too much. It is also greedy and selfish on Cale’s part. They will not win another cup with this albatross of a contract hanging around their neck.

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