The price of being an NHL fan keeps climbing, and the league’s newest money marker may have just changed the math for everyone.
In Toronto, tickets for the 2026-27 Maple Leafs season have already gone on sale, and the numbers hit fast. The cheapest standard seats are averaging $215, standing room is around $160, and a Monday night game against San Jose is listed at $200 a ticket.
Games against Montreal and Edmonton are reaching $350-400 even for the “cheap” seats. That’s for a team that finished dead last in its division last season.
The broadcast side has shifted just as sharply. CBC has ended its national NHL deal after carrying hockey since 1952, and Sportsnet now holds exclusive rights under a major new agreement.
Sportsnet+ subscriptions are rising to roughly $270-345 per year, which marks a major change for Canadian viewers. Hockey Night in Canada was more than a TV package; it was the one dependable way every Canadian, rich or not, could watch the game for free on a Saturday night.
That’s over now.
Then came the contract that towers over everything else. Cale Makar has signed an eight-year, $163.2 million extension worth $20.4 million annually, making him the first player in NHL history to cross the $20 million threshold.
That kind of number doesn’t stay isolated for long. It becomes the new starting point for every other superstar negotiation that follows.
The bigger picture is all connected. Higher media-rights money helps drive up player salaries.
Bigger salaries push roster costs higher. Teams and broadcasters then try to make up the difference through ticket prices, subscriptions and other revenue streams.
Fans are getting squeezed from every direction at once.
Colorado is now making the same kind of all-in bet Toronto made with the Core Four. By paying Makar that much and building the franchise around him, the Avalanche have tied their future to one era-defining star and the cap hit that comes with him.
Toronto’s version produced strong regular seasons and years of playoff disappointment. Colorado’s version is just beginning.
That’s what makes this moment so interesting. The question isn’t only whether Makar is worth the money. It’s whether the league is entering an age where teams try to win by centering everything around one $20 million player, and whether that model can work any better than it did in Toronto.
The Maple Leafs have taken a different route by building stronger depth around Auston Matthews, and they’ve already been through this kind of pressure before. Colorado is starting down the road now, and other teams seem likely to follow.
For fans, though, the trend line is clear: whatever comes next, hockey is getting more expensive to watch.
In Other News...
Cale Makar Does More For The Avalanche Than Most Fans Realize
Cale Makar has built a reputation around the kind of brilliance that shows up on highlight reels, but his value to the Avalanche goes well beyond the offensive instincts that usually get the attention. What stands out just as much is how well he reads the game from the back end, plays angles, uses his physicality when needed, and helps shut down chances before they become problems.
He also gives Colorado something harder to quantify: a steadying presence in the room and on the ice. Makar has taken on a leadership role without being the loudest voice in it, and his soft-spoken style comes with accountability for how the team performs. For an Avalanche group that leans on him in so many ways, that mix of defensive work and responsibility may be the part fans appreciate most when they look past the flashy plays. [Read more 🡒]
Why Avalanche Fans Should See Cale Makar's Deal Differently
Lane Hutsons new eight-year, $70.8 million extension with Montreal has already started the usual round of cross-league comparisons, but those numbers do not translate neatly to Cale Makar and the Avalanche. NHL analyst Marco DAmico pointed out that the two contracts were built at very different points in the players careers, with Hutson getting an early long-term commitment before he could reach unrestricted free agency and Makar signing after years of proving himself as one of the sports defining defensemen.
For Colorado fans, the bigger takeaway is that Makars eight-year, $163.2 million deal was never just about setting a market number for young defensemen. It reflected sustained elite play and postseason success, the kind of resume that changes how a team structures its future. So while Hutsons extension will inevitably get attention, Avalanche supporters should view Makars deal through the lens of achievement and timing rather than as a simple point of comparison. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Offseason Praise Comes Down To One Big Cup Question
The Avalanche entered the summer with the kind of profile that keeps them near the top of every offseason conversation, even after some meaningful turnover. The Hockey News slotted Colorado eighth in its 2026 offseason rankings, a nod to a roster that still looks dangerous on paper after losing Valeri Nichushkin and Jack Drury while bringing in Jaden Schwartz and young forwards like T.J. Hughes.
The biggest part of the picture, though, is the one move that changes how everything else is judged: Cale Makar is now locked in on an eight-year extension that keeps the franchise cornerstone in Denver through 2035. For a team that already expects to contend, that kind of long-term certainty only sharpens the pressure, because praise in June means a lot less than the answer to the one question that always follows in the spring. [Read more 🡒]