One of the biggest questions hanging over the Colorado Avalanche’s offseason is when they’ll get Cale Makar locked into a new deal. The extension conversation has been front and center, but insider Pierre LeBrun says fans should not expect anything to happen immediately.
In a June 29 piece for The Athletic, LeBrun said the sides are not close to a deal right now. He wrote that “…we shouldn’t expect a Makar extension Wednesday, according to league sources, who were granted anonymity to address negotiations that aren’t public.
There really hasn’t been much work done on it yet. But both sides intend to get to it sometime this summer, to be sure.”
That delay is hardly shocking. Makar’s injury late in the season, the long playoff run, and the medical work that likely followed have taken up most of the attention so far this summer. With one more year left on his current contract, there has been no real rush to force the issue.
The money, though, is where things get interesting.
LeBrun pointed to the New York Rangers paying $11 million for Pavel Dorofeyev as a factor that weakens Colorado’s leverage. His argument is straightforward: if a player like Dorofeyev can land that kind of money, what should one of the top-five players in the world be worth?
By the league’s cap rules, the maximum a player can sign for is 20% of a team’s cap allocation, which would put Makar at $20.8 million AAV. That’s the clean math. But Colorado is in win-now mode, and committing that much money after this season could create problems for the roster.
LeBrun’s range for Makar ends up lower, with a projected number between $17 million and $18 million per year.
The belief here is that the eventual answer lands somewhere in the middle. A short-term extension makes sense, and a deal along the lines of what Connor McDavid did in Edmonton is the kind of path both sides could settle on.
That would not mean Makar simply keeps his current cap hit. But a two-year agreement worth something close to Nathan MacKinnon’s current hit would not be a surprise either.
A deal like a two-year pact at $12.5 million would give Makar a strong payday without crushing Colorado’s cap situation. It would also allow both sides to revisit the conversation in the summer of 2028, when the cap ceiling is expected to be $123 million.
At that point, Makar could be in position to push close to $20 million AAV.
For now, though, there’s no reason to sound any alarms. The offseason is still young, and the biggest immediate focus for Makar is his health.
In Other News...
Joe Sakic Just Sent Another Jolt Through The Avalanche Roster
The Avalanche kept the offseason moving in a big way around the 2026 NHL Draft, adding nine players while Joe Sakic continued to reshape the roster through a string of moves. Colorado also dealt Ivan Ivan to the Boston Bruins for Fabian Lysell, another sign the front office is still trying to balance short-term roster stability with longer-term upside.
Brent Burns coming back for another season added a familiar veteran layer to the mix, but the larger picture is still very much in motion. With Sakic active in the market and the Avalanche making multiple deals, the roster looks far from finished, and the next move could say a lot about how Colorado sees its window right now. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Just Made A Makar Move Fans Will Want To See
The Avalanche kept a familiar name in the fold by signing forward Taylor Makar to a two-year contract that runs through the 2027-28 season. It is the latest step in a first full professional year that saw him move between Colorado and the Colorado Eagles, with the 2025-26 season giving him a taste of both NHL and AHL duty as he worked his way into the organizations plans.
Makars background already gives the deal extra interest around the team. The younger brother of defenseman Cale Makar came to pro hockey after college stops at the University of Maine and UMass-Amherst, and his development has been watched closely ever since he entered the Avalanche system. His first year also carried him into a meaningful spring run with the Eagles, which only adds to the sense that Colorado sees a player worth keeping close as his next chapter begins. [Read more 🡒]
Another Avalanche Linked Pick Just Took An Unexpected New Turn
A pick tied to Colorados draft future has already taken on a different look after a fresh move in Vancouver. Nashville added winger Nils Hglander from the Canucks for a third-round pick in 2029, giving the Predators another young piece to sort into their lineup while Vancouver picked up draft capital and some cap relief.
For Avalanche fans, the wrinkle is less about where Hglander landed than how a previously connected asset keeps changing hands. Hglander is under contract through the 2027-28 season, and the move gives Nashville a player whose recent season was shaped by an ankle injury and a steep dip in production after a more productive year before that, making this one of those deals that could still look very different down the road. [Read more 🡒]