Eight-year term a big win for Avalanche with Makar extension

Sep 3, 2026, 12:00 EDT

Colorado signed Makar to an eight-year, $163.2 million extension.

Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

It’s hard to feel as though you’ve gotten a bargain when you’ve just purchased something for its highest price in history, but that’s probably how the Colorado Avalanche feel right now. On August 28, the Avalanche signed defenseman Cale Makar to an eight-year, $163.2 million contract extension, with a record-setting $20.4 million average annual value (AAV).

Despite the eye-popping sticker price, the eight-year term should allow the deal to age into being team-friendly well before it ends, assuming Makar can maintain his elite level of play. With the NHL’s salary cap continuing to rise, and fellow high-end defenseman such as the Minnesota Wild‘s Quinn Hughes and the Columbus Blue Jackets‘ Zach Werenski due for extensions shortly, Colorado should be thrilled to have their world-class blueliner locked in at a fixed price until 2035.

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton were joined by Guerilla Sports‘ Jesse Montano to discuss the long-term value of Makar’s extension for the Avalanche.

Carter Hutton: Are you surprised by the deal in terms of the dollar value and where it landed? Everyone was making their predictions and it’s a record-setting contract. It seems like every contract we’re seeing now is going to break the next record. But for Cale Makar this is obviously well earned.

Jesse Montano: I was a little surprised at where the AAV came in. I really did think that all along the Avs were going to go for that eight-year term. I felt like Cale Makar wanted that security and he ended up going on to tell us that the eight-year term was a big priority for him. I was expecting the dollar figure to come in somewhere around $18.5 million on the AAV.

But look, when you kind of lay it all out, with where it ends up landing, had Cale Makar taken that shorter-term deal at four years or five years even, he would’ve been able to cash in on one more big payday. With him taking the term, you’re not really going to get that. His next contract extension is going to be when he’s 36 or something like that, so the dollar figure isn’t going to be as big. He got some insurance, some security for himself and his family. He’s got kids on the way and he made sure to take care of himself. The Avs got the term. Joe Sakic said the other day that he feels lucky to get Cale Makar at this term at that dollar figure, because of what you just said. It seems that every contract that comes in breaks a previous record. Who knows if Cale Makar ever even skates a game as the highest paid player in the league by the time that deal kicks in? Yes, it’s a little bit of sticker shock when you see the $20 million number for the first time. I think in two or three years, it’ll be among a handful of other $20 million deals and it’ll be back to looking like a great bargain.