Cale Makar signs richest contract in NHL history with Avalanche

Cale Makar signed an eight-year, $163.2 million contract with the Colorado Avalanche on Friday, August 28, the richest deal in NHL history. The extension begins in the 2027-28 season and runs through 2034-35, carrying an average annual value of $20.4 million, the first contract in league history to go over $20 million annually. Counting the final year of his current deal, it keeps Makar in Colorado for nine more seasons.

The average annual value surpasses that of the five-year, $94 million contract ($18.8 million AAV) center Macklin Celebrini signed with the San Jose Sharks on July 29. In total value, Makar's deal tops the eight-year, $136 million extension Kirill Kaprizov signed with the Minnesota Wild last September.

"A lot of guys are going mid-term, and we just decided we wanted to do the full eight-year term," Avalanche president of hockey operations and general manager Joe Sakic said at a press conference on Monday, August 31.

Makar, 27, was third among NHL defensemen last season with 79 points (20 goals, 59 assists) in 75 games. He won the Norris Trophy as the league's top defenseman in 2021-22 and 2024-25 and has been a finalist for the award in each of the last six seasons. He also won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP during Colorado's 2022 Stanley Cup run.

"You can't win without superstars," Sakic said. "You need depth and you need your team playing really well at the right time."

The contract comes less than a year after the Avalanche signed forward Martin Necas to an eight-year, $92 million deal ($11.5 million AAV) on October 30, 2025. Center Nathan MacKinnon is entering the fourth season of an eight-year, $100.8 million contract ($12.6 million AAV). The three deals total $44.5 million annually, which will amount to 39.2 percent of the projected $113.5 million salary cap upper limit in 2027-28.

Makar had been eligible to sign a new deal since July 1. The maximum eight-year term was available only through September 15, the day before the new NHL collective bargaining agreement takes effect. The new CBA runs from September 16, 2026 through September 15, 2030.

Colorado opens the season at home against the Los Angeles Kings on September 30.