The NHL salary cap is moving fast, and Cale Makar’s record-setting extension shows how dramatically the market has changed.
Colorado signed Makar to an eight-year, $163.2 million extension on Aug. 28. The deal carries a $20.4 million annual cap hit, begins in 2027–28 and runs through 2034–35. It is the largest contract in NHL history and the first with an average annual value above $20 million.
The 2026–27 cap sits at $104 million, up from $95.5 million in 2025–26. The NHL and NHLPA have projected a $113.5 million upper limit for 2027–28, a figure that would put even more money into the hands of the league’s biggest stars.
That shift is already changing the way teams, agents, and fans view elite-player contracts. It also affects betting markets, where an Albert Online Sportsbook futures board could quickly reflect how one massive extension changes a contender’s long-term roster outlook.
Cale Makar Sets a New NHL Standard
Makar’s extension does more than reset the defenseman market. It resets the entire NHL market.
The 27-year-old enters 2026–27 on the final season of his current six-year, $54 million contract. That deal carries a $9 million cap hit. His new extension will not hit Colorado’s books until 2027–28, when the league’s cap is projected to reach $113.5 million.
At $20.4 million annually, Makar will account for roughly 18 percent of that projected cap. That is a large number, but Colorado avoided a situation where its franchise defenseman consumed the full maximum share allowed under the collective bargaining agreement.
The NHL limits a player’s salary to 20 percent of the cap ceiling. With a $104 million cap in 2026–27, the maximum annual value is $20.8 million. If the cap reaches $113.5 million in 2027–28, the maximum would rise to $22.7 million.
Makar’s $20.4 million AAV sits $400,000 below the current maximum. The deal proves that the league’s old financial limits no longer apply to the sport’s most valuable players.
For years, an NHL contract above $15 million annually felt unthinkable. Then the market accelerated.
Leo Carlsson signed a five-year, $90 million offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers in July. Anaheim matched the deal, keeping Carlsson with the Ducks at an $18 million AAV. The contract briefly made the 21-year-old center the highest-paid player in the league by cap hit.
Makar blew past that number less than two months later.
The NHL has entered a different salary era. Makar is the clearest sign yet.
Colorado Keeps Its Cornerstone
Colorado had little room for error in its Makar negotiations.
Makar has already won two Norris Trophies and helped lead the Avalanche to the 2022 Stanley Cup. He remains one of the league’s most dynamic defensemen, capable of driving play, producing offense, and controlling games at both ends of the ice.
The Avalanche could not allow him to approach unrestricted free agency. A player with Makar’s résumé would have had enormous leverage, particularly with the cap rising sharply and several big-market clubs likely prepared to make an aggressive push.
Instead, Colorado secured its best defenseman through his age-35 season.
The timing also gives the Avalanche clarity. General manager Chris MacFarland and the front office know exactly what Makar will cost through 2034–35. That allows the club to plan around its core rather than face annual uncertainty.
Colorado still needs to manage major contracts elsewhere on the roster. Nathan MacKinnon remains one of the NHL’s elite centers. Mikko Rantanen’s departure showed how difficult cap decisions can become, even for a contender with championship aspirations.
But Makar is a different kind of player. He is a franchise defenseman in his prime, and those players rarely become available.
His extension also raises the bar for other elite blue-liners. Quinn Hughes, Zach Werenski and the next wave of star defensemen will now negotiate in a world where Makar’s $20.4 million figure exists as a real precedent rather than a hypothetical ceiling.
The Next Contract Wave
The league’s next major negotiations will take place under a radically different financial structure.
Connor Bedard, Macklin Celebrini, Quinn Hughes, Nikita Kucherov, and Jason Robertson are among the star players who could shape the next phase of the market. Each situation differs, but Makar’s contract will influence every conversation involving a franchise-level talent.
Celebrini’s recent $18.8 million AAV already showed San Jose’s willingness to pay premium money for a young cornerstone. Carlsson’s matched offer sheet showed that rival teams are willing to weaponize cap space to chase elite centers.
Makar’s deal takes the process even further.
Players and agents will no longer base negotiations on the era when $12 million or $13 million marked the top of the market. They will point to a cap expected to rise by $18 million over two seasons, from $95.5 million in 2025–26 to a projected $113.5 million in 2027–28.
That context matters.
A contract that looks enormous today can become less restrictive if the cap continues to climb. Teams understand this. That is why clubs may prefer long-term certainty with foundational players, even if the initial price triggers sticker shock.
The same logic applies below the superstar level.
The NHL’s 2026–27 cap floor is $76.9 million, while the projected 2027–28 floor sits at $83.9 million. Teams at the bottom of the standings must spend more, while contenders have more room to retain useful veterans and support players.
That does not mean every middle-six forward or third-pair defenseman will receive an inflated contract. Teams still need value, flexibility, and room for younger players.
It does mean the flat-cap mindset is fading.
Rising Cap Changes Roster Building
The cap increase will give teams more options, but it will also create fresh pressure.
A rising ceiling helps contenders keep more talent. It can soften the impact of a major extension and reduce the need for painful salary dumps. It can also make retention trades easier to structure when teams need to move an expensive veteran.
Montreal’s trade of Brendan Gallagher to Vancouver offers one example. The Canadiens moved Gallagher for future considerations while retaining 50 percent of his $6.5 million cap hit. That transaction did not prove that every difficult contract can be moved, but it showed how cap retention and financial flexibility can create options.
The new environment will reward teams that identify their core early.
Organizations that wait too long may find themselves negotiating against a higher cap, a stronger player résumé, and a market shaped by Makar and Carlsson. Clubs that act before the next jump could lock in value before the numbers rise again.
The NHL’s financial picture is no longer defined by the years of flat-cap pressure that followed the pandemic. The ceiling is rising. Premium talent is getting paid. The best teams will need to decide which players deserve a place in that new reality.
Makar’s $20.4 million deal is not simply a Colorado story. It is the new reference point for hockey’s biggest contracts.
