Avalanche star Cale Makar signs largest contract in NHL history

Corey Masisak, The Denver Post on Aug 28, 2026

Published in Hockey

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DENVER — Cale Makar’s path to the Hockey Hall of Fame will continue in Denver into the next decade.

The Colorado Avalanche and the superstar defenseman have agreed to an eight-year contract, he announced Friday afternoon on the club’s social media account. The deal is worth $163.2 million, which makes it the largest in NHL history. It will carry a cap hit of $20.4 million per season.

Makar has one season left on his current deal, a six-year, $54 million pact, which is signed on July 24, 2021. This contract will start with the 2027-28 season, and runs through 2035.

Erik Karlsson has been the highest-paid defenseman for the past six seasons after signing an eight-year, $92 million contract ($11.5 million cap hit) in June 2019. Makar’s former teammate, Bowen Byram, surpassed that deal on July 1 when he signed a six-year, $75 million pact ($12.5 million cap hit) with the Chicago Blackhawks. Karlsson’s AAV will still be the largest for next season before these new megadeals kick in the following year.

Two young forwards — Anaheim’s Leo Carlsson and San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini — reset the top of the market for all players after that. The Ducks matched a five-year, $90 million offer sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers, which will make Carlsson the most expensive player in 2026-27 with an $18 million cap hit. Celebrini then signed a five-year, $94 million contract late last month. His deal, with an $18.8 million cap hit, begins in 2027-28.

The No. 4 selection in the 2018 NHL draft, Makar quickly ascended to the top of the sport and hasn’t slowed down since. Makar, who will turn 28 years old on Oct. 30, is a two-time Norris Trophy winner. He has been a finalist in six of his first seven NHL seasons — he and Bobby Orr are the only two players in league history to do that.

Makar also won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 2019-20, and was the Conn Smythe Trophy winner when the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2022.

The Calgary native won the Alberta Junior Hockey League twice with the Brooks Bandits, including an MVP award. He won the Hobey Baker Award as the best player in college hockey as a sophomore at UMass.

Makar has won the IIHF World Junior Championships and the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off with Canada. He, Nathan MacKinnon and Devon Toews won silver medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.

Makar has 136 goals and 507 points — both franchise records for a defenseman — in 470 career regular-season games. He has 26 goals and 90 points in 90 playoff games. His 1.0 points per postseason contest is fifth all-time in NHL among defensemen with 20-plus games, trailing only Bobby Orr, Evan Bouchard, Brian Leetch and Paul Coffey.

He is one of 14 defensemen with multiple Norris Trophy wins. One more would make him the 10th player with three, and two more would put him in the inner circle of all-time greats with Bobby Orr, Dough Harvey, Nicklas Lidstrom and Ray Bourque.

Makar and Minnesota’s Quinn Hughes, widely considered the two best defensemen in the world, were both in the same situation this offseason — entering the final year of their current contracts and eligible for an extension. Hughes and the Wild have not agreed to a deal.

The NHL’s new collective bargaining agreement begins Sept. 16. The day before is the final day that a player can sign an eight-year contract with his current club. Seven years will be the new maximum moving forward.