Cale Makar’s record-setting extension has changed the conversation around NHL defensemen money, and it also throws a bright light on where the biggest blue-line payrolls sit right now.
His eight-year, $163.2MM deal carries a $20.4MM cap hit, the highest AAV in league history. That tops the $18.8MM mark Macklin Celebrini set earlier this offseason and the $18MM figure Leo Carlsson held before that, though a Quinn Hughes deal could still alter the picture.
And while Colorado is staring at a 2027-28 payroll that would sit at $101MM, with nearly $42MM tied up in defense, the Avalanche are only 14th among teams in defensemen cap hit for 2026-27. So who’s spending the most on the back end next season?
Vegas leads the way at $41.1MM, and that number fits the way the Golden Knights have operated from day one: spend to stay loaded. Their 2026-27 defense spending is anchored by Alex Pietrangelo at $8.8MM on IR, Rasmus Andersson at $8.5MM, Shea Theodore at $7.425MM, Noah Hanifin at $7.35MM, Jeremy Lauzon at $4MM and Brayden McNabb at $3.65MM.
Vegas has already shown a willingness to make big swings, but even with that approach, the club is now $8MM over the NHL salary cap. The offseason brought long-term deals for Andersson and Lauzon, while Pietrangelo is entering the final year of the contract he signed in 2020.
The expectation is that Vegas will try to place him on LTIR to open the season and get compliant.
New York checks in second at $36.75MM, and the Rangers’ blue-line makeover was one of the more noticeable parts of their offseason. Adam Fox leads the group at $9.5MM, followed by Vladislav Gavrikov at $7MM, Sean Durzi at $6MM, Marcus Pettersson at $5.5MM and Braden Schneider at $5.5MM.
The Rangers added Durzi through the Trocheck trade to Utah and brought Pettersson in from Vancouver, while moving William Borgen’s $4.1MM to Boston. That left a $6MM gap between the money coming in and going out on defense.
Four Rangers defensemen, including Schneider, are on one-year contracts, so there’s plenty to watch there as the season unfolds.
New Jersey sits right behind them at $36.5MM. The Devils’ blue line is headlined by Dougie Hamilton at $9MM and Luke Hughes at $9MM, with Brett Pesce at $5.5M, Brenden Dillon at $4MM, Johnathan Kovacevic at $4MM and Jonas Siegenthaler at $3.4MM.
The offseason also brought a major shakeup when New Jersey moved former second-overall pick Simon Nemec to the Calgary Flames. Calgary then extended the 22-year-old for five years at a $7.25MM cap hit.
If that number had been in Newark, the Devils would be sitting first on this list. Hughes, just 22, has the longest-tenured deal on the roster, running through 2032, and that cap hit looks like it should age well.
The Kings are fourth at $35.88MM, with Drew Doughty carrying the biggest single number on the roster at $11MM. Brandt Clarke follows at $7.4MM, then Cody Ceci at $4.5MM, Michael Anderson at $4.125MM, Brian Dumoulin at $4MM and Joel Edmundson at $3.85MM.
Los Angeles didn’t make many changes on defense this offseason, but Doughty remains the steady force at the top of the chart and takes up 30% of the Kings’ blue-line payroll for one more year. After that, the question becomes where that cap space goes.
Clarke’s new five-year extension, signed this offseason, puts the former eighth-overall pick in position to become the next centerpiece on the back end.
Minnesota rounds out the top five at $35.58MM, and there’s a little more uncertainty here than the raw number suggests. Brock Faber leads the Wild at $8.5MM, with Quinn Hughes at $7.85MM, Jared Spurgeon at $7.575MM, Jonas Brodin at $6MM and Olli Maatta at $3.5MM.
Outside of Faber, none of the Wild’s defensemen are signed past 2028, and two of the top four are headed for unrestricted free agency. The biggest storyline is Quinn and what his next number will be, especially with Makar’s extension now resetting the market.
Among the defensemen listed, Quinn’s 2025-26 output of 76 points was the most cost-effective offensively, coming in at a $107K cost-per-point, a figure Minnesota will get to enjoy for at least one more season.
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