The Colorado Avalanche have some busuiness to take care of in terms of signing their upcoming free agents as well as extending some players whose contract is up following the 2026-27 season. One of the players that fits the second category there is defenseman Cale Makar.
Makar is expected to received somewhere around $20 million a year or even more on his next contract.
Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic held an end-of-season press conference alongside Josh Kroenke on Thursday afternoon, and said what all fans wanted to hear. That would be that Makar will “finish his career (in Colorado).” Now, there are always at least a handful of people who would perhaps cook up some different scenarios regarding key players. I’ve even seen some fans of the Calgary Flames suggest that that Makar could go there in free agency.
Those are fun for debates or straight-up conversations. Without any truth or merit to those discussions, they’re strictly for entertainment purposes, and that’s alright. The reality of the matter is that letting Makar have a taste of free agency would be the biggest mistake in team history. That’s how much Makar means to the team and Avs Faithful. It just would be a foolish outcome.
At the end of the day, every move the Avalanche make up until Makar is signed is going to center around that enormous upcoming contract. They can’t realistically sign multiple players to contracts north of $20 million AAV.
If there is one person who knows about loyalty from a team, it would be Sakic. When Sakic was in a situation where he might have been leaving the Colorado Avalanche as a player, the Avalanche were able to secure his rights back because of a Harrison Ford movie. Without that happening, he likely would have become a member of the New York Rangers, who extended an offer sheet his way.
Things won’t get that dramatic for the Avalanche this time around. Makar is currently scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent. He would be free to choose who to sign with without the additional paperwork and tug-o-war. Sakic and Co. will do everything in their power to prevent that from happening.
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