The NHL's cap-hit benchmark has been reset for the third time this summer.
After Anaheim's Leo Carlsson made waves last month by signing an offer sheet that granted him a record $18-million cap hit, and Macklin Celebrini joined the fray with a five-year pact granting him an $18.8-million cap hit, the Colorado Avalanche announced Friday that Cale Makar has inked a hefty eight-year extension that moves the star defenceman onto the cap-hit throne.
Per Makar's agents at Bartlett Hockey, the blue-liner's new deal clocks in at $163.2 million in total, with a record-setting $20.4-million cap hit.
The 27-year-old has one year left on the six-year, $54-million deal he signed back in 2021. After that, his cap hit will more than double as he becomes the NHL's first $20-million man, sitting just above Celebrini ($18.8 million AAV), Carlsson ($18 million AAV), Kirill Kaprizov ($17 million AAV), and Connor Bedard ($15 million AAV).
There’s no question the Avalanche talisman has earned the historic raise. Since bursting onto the scene during the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs — when he became the first defenceman to score a post-season goal in his NHL debut — Makar's risen to become the most dominant blue-liner in the game.
Through seven seasons in Colorado, he’s amassed two 90-point campaigns, hovered around 80 points two other times, and overall has topped the 50-point plateau in six of seven seasons. Just two years ago, he became the ninth defender in NHL history to put together a 30-goal campaign. That effort earned him the second Norris Trophy of his career — in all, the Calgary, Alta., product has been nominated for the Norris in each of the past six seasons, and has earned votes for the award in every season of his big-league career.
He helped the Avalanche reach the Stanley Cup summit in 2022, leading Colorado in scoring with 29 points over the course of the 20-game run, claiming the Conn Smythe Trophy for his performance.
And yet, to get a sense of why Makar has been handed this weighty new deal — the richest contract in league history — you need not look to the numbers or the trophies. Catch any handful of shifts from No. 8, watch any collection of sequences that see him slice through the opposition with all-world grace and ease, leaving opponents dizzied and spinning, and the depth of his talent is immediately evident. Now, he has a piece of NHL history that makes clear his place among the game's best.
The new deal will make Makar the third player in Colorado’s lineup to surpass the $10-million-per-year threshold — Nathan MacKinnon is entering the fourth season of his eight-year, $100.8-million ($12.6-million AAV) deal, while Martin Necas is set to begin Year 1 of an eight-year $92-million ($11.5-million AAV) deal in 2026-27.
But how exactly does Makar's new deal stack up against other elite blue-liners around the game, and how does it affect a couple other Norris-calibre talents owed extensions soon, too? To get a sense, we took a look at some of the other big-ticket contracts handed out to defencemen of late:
Contract: 6 years, $75 million ($12.5 million AAV)
Traded to Chicago in June after two-and-a-half seasons in Buffalo and parts of four seasons in Colorado before that — including that 2022 Cup run with Makar and Co. — Byram inked a hefty $75-million extension with his new club in July. Kicking in after next season, the new deal briefly set the 25-year-old up as the highest-paid blue-liner in the league until the announcement of Makar’s extension appropriately reset that benchmark. Still, while he will be making far less than Makar, and likely less than Quinn Hughes when he signs his new deal, Byram will slot in as one of the highest-paid rearguards in the league come 2027-28, a distinction that's sure to bring plenty of pressure for the 2019 fourth-overall pick.
Contract: 8 years, $92 million ($11.5 million AAV)
On the other end of the scale, there’s veteran Erik Karlsson’s deal, which is entering its final phase. The 36-year-old heads into the new season as the highest-paid blue-liner in the league in 2026-27, set to play out the final year of the hefty contract signed in San Jose back in 2019, when he was in the prime of his prolific career. The Norris-winning jaw-dropper of his day, Karlsson's deal provides some interesting context for Makar's new extension — when the Swedish phenom signed his contract seven years ago, his $11.5-million AAV accounted for 14.1 per cent of the cap ceiling in Year 1 of the deal. Makar's $20.4 million AAV will account for 17.8 per cent of the cap when it begins in 2027-28.
Contract: 8 years, $88 million ($11 million AAV)
It’s a similar story for Drew Doughty, who enters the final year of the big-ticket extension he signed in Los Angeles back in 2018. Not quite the offensive juggernaut Karlsson was or Makar is, Doughty still reigned as a perennial Norris contender in his prime. When he inked this long-term deal with the Kings, the first year of the deal accounted for 13.5 per cent of the cap ceiling, again paling in comparison to the 17.8 per cent of the Avalanche's salary-cap pie Makar's new deal will occupy.
Contract: 8 years, $88 million ($11 million AAV)
Returning to the younger generation of blue-line standouts, Buffalo Sabres talisman Rasmus Dahlin is two years into his own extension, which lined up with Doughty’s at $11 million per year. Signed in 2023, Year 1 of Dahlin's deal accounted for 12.5 per cent of the Sabres' cap. The 26-year-old Swede, who was tabbed with the first-overall pick in 2018, has hit his stride over the past half-decade, proving to be one of the brightest young offensive defencemen in the game. He enters 2026-27 fresh off a career-best 74-point campaign that earned him his first Norris Trophy nomination.
Contract: 8 years, $84.7 million ($10.6 million AAV)
Young Dallas Stars blue-liner Thomas Harley is coming off a rollercoaster two-year run. In 2025, he broke through on the international stage, suiting up for Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off, while in Dallas, he capped off the 2024-25 season with a career-best 50 points. This year has seen him represent Canada once again, this time at the Olympic Games, but also saw his production dip, as Harley finished 2025-26 with just 36 points in 70 appearances. Now, the 25-year-old begins Year 1 of an extension that makes him the fourth-highest-paid defender in the league next season.
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Contract: 4 years, $42 million ($10.5 million AAV)
Fresh off a pair of Stanley Cup Final runs, Evan Bouchard and the Edmonton Oilers opted for a shorter-term pact — the four-year, $42-million extension and its $10.5-million AAV makes him one of the highest-paid defenders in the league for the next three seasons. The 26-year-old has had a somewhat tumultuous run in Edmonton, at times looking like one of the most dominant offensive talents in the game, at others leaving more to be desired on the other end of the sheet. The weighty new deals signed by the likes of Makar and Byram, and the others coming over the next few years, should make things interesting for Bouchard when he hits free agency in 2029.
Contract: 8 years, $70.8 million ($8.85 million AAV)
There are a number of other defencemen with cap hits slotting in between Lane Hutson and the names above, but it’s worth mentioning him here to highlight just how much of a bargain the Montreal Canadiens got on the extension he inked last October. Through two full seasons in the league, the 22-year-old has racked up an absurd 144 points from the blue line. He was the fourth-highest scoring defender in the league last season, his 78 points sitting just behind Makar, and just above Hughes. Hutson's $8.85-million AAV next season — which accounts for just 8.5 per cent of the Canadiens' cap — will make him the 18th-highest-paid defender in the league.
Next up: Quinn Hughes, Zach Werenski
In truth, there are only two other blue-liners in the game who can truly be compared to Makar: Quinn Hughes and Zach Werenski, both of whom similarly reign as offensive engines from the back end, and find themselves in perennial Norris conversations.
Werenski, the league’s reigning Norris winner, has two years left on his six-year, $57.5-million contract. Like Makar, he will no doubt get a significant raise on his current deal’s $9.6-million cap hit after two seasons that have seen him emerge as one of the game's best offensive rearguards. The 29-year-old is coming off a pair of 20-goal, 80-point campaigns for Columbus — over that span, only Makar has amassed more than the 163 points collected by the Blue Jackets leader.
After an off-season that had most predicting a change of address for Werenski, the veteran doubled down on his desire to remain in Columbus, as long as the club can make some meaningful playoff noise. Either way, he seems set to move himself close to the top of the above list of highest-paid defenceman in a couple years' time.
Hughes' future is perhaps more difficult to predict. The 26-year-old has similarly emerged as an all-world offensive phenom from the blue line, culminating in a 92-point season back in 2023-24 that truly cemented his place among the league's elite. He’s finished with 76 points in each of the past two seasons, the last of which saw him leave Vancouver and land in Minnesota via a December blockbuster.
But now it’s decision time for Hughes. The former Canucks captain is entering the final year of his six-year, $47.1-million ($7.9 million AAV) deal, and will be well within his rights to demand Makar-esque money on his next contract. Minnesota has made clear its willingness to pay its stars, as shown last year when the club inked Kaprizov to a monster eight-year, $136-million deal that gave him, at the time, the highest cap hit in the league ($17 million).
That benchmark has now been reset by Makar, and Hughes figures to land somewhere near those two numbers. The question is whether it will be in Minnesota or elsewhere.
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