The Colorado Avalanche signed defenseman Cale Makar to an eight-year extension worth $20.4 million AAV on Friday, over 24 hours after NHL insider Elliotte Friedman acknowledged that it was getting close. Despite the massive salary cap that will get eaten up by the deal, the team still has some money to spend.
As PuckPedia lists, the Avalanche’s salary cap over the next three seasons is projected to be: $11.646 million in 2027-28, $36,696,000 million in 2028-29, and $52,546,000 in 2029-30.
These are the figures that you take into account with Valeri Nichushkin, who had one of the bigger salary cap figures on the team, on the books.
Avalanche’s future free agents
The biggest upcoming free agent-to-be is winger Artturi Lehkonen. Lehkonen, as I’ve mentioned in the past, is a player who fits the Avalanche’s system extremely well. He is the perfect partner for Nathan MacKinnon on the top line. He is physical when needed to be, and can make some beautiful shots on net when in the right position.
Lehkonen put up over 20 goals in each of the past two seasons and in three of the past four. He has really stepped up as one of the team’s more important players.
Another free agent-to-be is Nicolas Roy. While Roy isn’t a big-name player, the Avalanche rely on depth players when needed—primarily later in the season when injuries typically start to pile up. In 74 games last season between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Avalanche, Roy had eight goals and 17 assists.
The big question I have is whether or not Roy’s $3 million is sustainable for his specific role. If they could find a way to trim that figure down, perhaps with an agreement with Roy or a Roy replacement, that would be ideal. Because they could use the money to help bolster other areas of the team rather than a depth center, despite their importance.
He is among the team’s biggest forwards, standing at 6’4” and 200 pounds, which he uses to his advantage to fight for pucks and to keep the puck away from opponents.
Roy is entering the final season of a five-year contract worth $3 million AAV.
Brent Burns is one player that could be on one-year deals the rest of his career. At the age of 41, he’s not going to cost the Avalanche a lot of money going forward. He is entering 2026-27 on a one-year deal he signed in the offseason at $850k. He’s hardly an issue when it comes to cap space.
Goaltender Scott Wedgewood wraps up the team’s free agents for 2027-28. He costs the Avalanche $2.5 million, which is also a fairly inexpensive deal. The big question is whether or not the team chooses to move forward with him as a starter and possibly ships off Mackenzie Blackwood despite a league where great goaltending is hard to come by.
In my opinion, Wedgewood did enough to secure a multi-year deal with the Avalanche, going 31-6-6 and a goals-against average of just 2.02, as well as a save percentage of .921 in 43 games last season.
If the Avalanche want some more help in other areas on the roster, they could look to move Blackwood, and they could potentially get a lot for him, such as a high draft pick, starting forward and possibly a prospect. Colorado could certainly use a prospect in their weak prospect pool.
In 2028-29, the Avalanche’s unrestricted free agents are scheduled to be Brock Nelson, Josh Manson, and Noah Juulsen. Nelson will be 36-years-old at that time, as will Manson. Nelson is making $7.5 million in each of the next two years, which is a pretty significant chunk of money as it relates to the salary cap. I’d love to see his playoff performances take a big step forward to justify the cap hit. Otherwise, it could turn out to be one of Colorado’s most expensive signings for the production.
While Makar’s contract takes a huge chunk of the team’s salary cap over the life of the extension, the Avalanche are not necessarily in a ton of trouble. They could have to make some difficult decisions, but I think that Joe Sakic will pull through and keep the train rolling as the Avalanche attempt to earn more Stanley Cup championships.
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