NHL contract grades: Cale Makar hits $20 million, and who can fault the Avalanche?

The contract

The Colorado Avalanche signed defenseman Cale Makar to an eight-year extension with an $20.4 million AAV.

Sean Gentille: Maybe you saw this coming when Bowen Byram, a No. 3 defenseman with some degree of untapped potential, signed with the Chicago Blackhawks for six years and $75 million.

Maybe it was when Leo Carlsson, a 21-year-old center talented enough to show up on Hart Trophy ballots in the very near future, guaranteed that he’d be paid $18 million by either the Philadelphia Flyers or Anaheim Ducks.

Maybe it was when Makar, via the Avalanche’s official X account, looked into a camera and said the words “nine years.”

At some point over the last few months, though, it should’ve become quite clear: Makar was destined to sign the largest contract in the history of the National Hockey League, and on Friday, that destiny was fulfilled.

We’ll cut to the chase here — it would be impossible for any team, at any time, to sign Makar and not come out on top. At 27 years old, he’s got a puncher’s chance of finishing his career as the best player of his generation and as one of the few best defensemen of all time. You do not negotiate with guys like that. You ask them how much money they’d like, and you thank them for the privilege of payment. Makar, for the record, was technically allowed to sign for $20.8 million a year. Hopefully the Avs can use that $400,000 on something nice.

Think of it this way: We live in a world where a defenseman such as Byram — a flawed, unproven player whose value is more theoretical than not — is an OK bet at $12 million annually. Where does that put Makar? How much more could a team reasonably pay someone who, even after a down season, remains the consensus top defenseman in the league? Credit to Quinn Hughes for continuing to significantly closing the gap, but the gap still exists, owing to Makar’s ability to tilt the ice in all three zones and influence play with and without the puck. Watch his highlights, crack into his advanced stats, ask an NHL person and the answer won’t change. Makar isn’t just special — he’s the best. And now, he’s paid accordingly.

Contract grade: A

James Mirtle: The list of plausible options to become the NHL’s first $20 million player was always very short, and Makar’s name was pinned near the top for good reason.

Only 27 years old, he’s already won the Norris twice, the Conn Smythe once, plus the Stanley Cup and a Calder. He’s also one of the only defensemen in NHL history to be a finalist for the Norris six consecutive years, including, notably, Bobby Orr and Nick Lidstrom.

The cap hit obviously comes with some sticker shock, given the highest-paid defenseman in the NHL last year (Erik Karlsson) made just 56 percent of Makar’s new cap hit — a full $8.9 million less. That unprecedented jump only makes sense with the context that the NHL’s cap could be as high as $160 million by 2031-32, which would drop Makar’s deal to less than 13 percent of the ceiling by the midway point of the deal. That would make his pay the equivalent to roughly $12 million against last season’s cap, and he’ll still be just 31 years old when that season starts.

It’s also a deal that was signed with the understanding that star-player pay is clearly on the rise, with the best players about to take a bigger piece of the pie given the scarcity of available talent and how aggressive teams are getting with top stars. (See: Macklin Celebrini’s new $18.8 million deal after just two seasons in the league.)

The risk here? The cap doesn’t skyrocket quite that fast and the Avs get boxed in by paying Makar a massive share of their cashflow as he declines. But what was the alternative? Let the best defenseman in the league and a future Hall of Famer walk in his prime? Try to make a trade under duress and pick up the pieces with a giant hole in your roster?

Maybe Colorado didn’t pull out a ton of surplus value here the way, say, Montreal has with Lane Hutson, but what they did do was ensure Makar is on the ice for nearly half of the game every night for nearly a decade going forward. That alone should keep them in contention for at least the next five years in a league that’s so parity-filled that that’s harder than ever to do.

And it’s hard to argue with that.

Contract grade: B