Cale Makar signs six-year deal with Avalanche

With the open of free agency looming in just a few days, the Colorado Avalanche took care of a huge piece of business as they found the common ground with star defenseman Cale Makar and signed him to a six-year, $54 million deal.

The AAV on Makar’s deal comes out to $9M per year just one night after division rival Chicago traded for and signed Seth Jones to an eight-year deal worth $9.5M AAV. A lot of people wondered how that impact Colorado’s negotiations with Makar but the two were in very different situations and their deals represented their situations.

Namely, Makar was five years from unrestricted free agency and the six-year pact he just signed buys out the first of those years. Given Makar’s camp was primarily concerned about giving away too much money on a long-term deal, this is where six years is a logical landing place for both sides after the Avs pushed for eight years.

Makar’s deal comes after the 22-year-old defenseman finished second in the Norris Trophy voting this year as he has quickly become one of the NHL’s very best defensemen. To that point, here’s a tweet showing Makar’s contract comparables coming into the offseason:

Cale Makar (who has zero comps) is projected to be the most valuable defenceman in the league and is immediately on one of the best contracts if he stays at that level. A nice deal for Colorado. pic.twitter.com/UgOY8DSCMc

— dom 📈 (@domluszczyszyn) July 24, 2021

The salary breakdown of Makar’s deal is as follows:

Cale Makar's 6 year $9M Cap Hit deal w/ #GoAvsGo:

Yr 1 8M Base
Yr 2 9M Base
Yr 3 11M Base
Yr 4 10.6M Base
Yr 5 8.7M Base
Yr 6 5.7M Base + 1M Signing Bonus

Does not include trade protection

Covers 1 UFA Year

Rep'd by @BBarts @BartlettHockey https://t.co/pA6WXFMsCM

— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) July 24, 2021

The Avs successfully found common ground with Makar as their priority piece of business, allowing them to again turn their focus back to their captain, Gabe Landeskog, who is set to hit the open market on Wednesday if the Avs cannot bridge the gap that remains between the two sides.

After the Makar signing, the Avs have right in the neighborhood of $21M remaining in salary cap space to use this offseason.