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July 24, 2021 By: Kevin Kissner

Cale Makar signs six-year, $54 million contract extension with Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche have locked up Cale Makar for the next six years with a recent $54 million contract extension.

The annual average of $9 million will place Makar as the second-highest paid player for the Avalanche behind only Mikko Rantanen. Rantanen is receiving $9.25 million on average after he signed a six-year deal in 2019.

Makar announced the deal on his Instagram saying, “Hy Avs fans, I couldn’t be more excited knowing ‘ll be calling Denver home for at least the next six years. I will do everything in my power to bring a Stanley Cup to the best fans in the NHL.”

The 22-year-old has lived up to the hype after being drafted by Colorado and has become one of the best defenseman in all of the NHL. Makar won The Calder Trophy in 2020 and was a finalist for The Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman.

Makar averaged a point per game last season and was the only blue liner to do so. The youngster was also named to the NHL First All-Star team last season making him the first player for the Avalanche to be named since Joe Sakic in 2003-2004. In his 10 playoff games this season, Makar totaled 10 points which ranked him fourth among defenseman.

Securing Makar for the next six years is exactly what general manager Joe Sakic wanted to do. Sakic is trying to keep his young star-studded core together for years to come and that includes, Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon.

Team captain Gabriel Landeskog also agreed to a long-term extension with the Avs. Colorado didn’t protect Landeskog from the Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft, but that didn’t matter. Seattle instead selected Joonas Donskoi.

Colorado is in a bit of a money issue because they have around $20 million left in cap space and are trying to bring back not only their captain on a discounted rate, but also their goaltender Philipp Grubauer.

The Avalanche have until July 28^th to get their goalie signed up or else he becomes an unrestricted free agent. Grubauer is coming off one his best seasons of his NHL career after being named a finalist for The Vezina Trophy.

By getting an extension done with Makar, everything else should fall into place for Sakic and his front office. If everything goes as planned, Colorado will have to live up to the hype and enter the season in Stanley Cup or bust mode. The Avalanche are listed as the favorites to win the whole thing next season.