The Avalanche have two of the best cornerstone pieces in all of hockey on their team with Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar. Let’s also not forget Gabriel Landeskog, who made an impressive return to the ice after three seasons rehabbing an injury. Having someone like Devon Toews is icing on the cake. All of that sounds pretty great, huh?
Well, in the team’s after-season press conference with Joe Sakic and general manager Chris MacFarland, Sakic had brought up something that hasn’t left my mind since hearing it. He said that as long as you have MacKinnon and Makar on your team, your championship window is not ever closed.
While Sakic is partially correct, I feel as if he may have just put an extreme amount of pressure on the two all-world players.
Sure, you need some key players to help build your foundation as a team. However, if you have said stars on your team along with players who are not even close to the caliber of those stars, it makes it tough. I do like the success I’ve seen from Martin Necas since coming over from the Hurricanes. The thing is, he’s been on MacKinnon’s line the entire time. What if, god forbid, MacKinnon is hurt for an extended period of time? Of course, the result depends on who replaced him at 1C.
The pre-free agency depth chart has Brock Nelson at 2C, implying that he might move up to 1C if he had to. The key there is “pre-free agency.” Nelson might not even be on the team in 2025-26. There has been quite a lot fo speculation that he’s likely to move on from the Avalanche. If that is the case, Colorado better find an equal replacement and then pray that replacement can make a jump up to 1C if needed.
The defense is another story. While I’m not suggesting that MacKinnon is easily replaceable, Makar is especially not replaceable. There aren’t many defenders who have both the defensive and offensive abilities that Makar boasts. In fact, nobody does, no matter how close the second-best defender in the league is to Makar. He’s just the best in the world, plain and simple.
It’s also unfair to ask a single player to take over your team. In fact, it really doesn’t happen a whole lot with success. I suppose the only acception would be Wayne Gretzky with the Edmonton Oilers. Over the first 13 years of his career, Gretzky never had less than 100 points in a season.
While I’m not in favour of putting all of the pressure on MacKinnon and Makar, I also do not want the Avalanche to become a team like the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have had many players make more than $10 million in recent years. Overpaying for underperforming is just flat out stupid. I’d be okay if Colorado signed one superstar in free agency, as long as they’re not pushing one of their better players out the door.
When the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2021-22, MacKinnon was making $6.3 million. The highest-paid player on that team was Mikko Rantanen with a base salary of $10 million. However, his cap hit was just $9.25 million. Currently, the Avalanche have one player making more than $10 million: MacKinnon at $12.6 million.
Makar is second on the team at a $9 million cap hit. He’s scheduled to hit free agency in 2027-28, but I imagine the team gets a deal done with him perhaps during the upcoming season or early in the next offseason.
We’ll see what the future has in store for the Avalanche. Can they fill out the roster to lessen the pressure on MacKinnon and Makar? They need to, or we might hear some frustration down the road.