This is the kind of contract situation that can create noise everywhere except inside the building, and that appears to be exactly where the Colorado Avalanche are right now with Cale Makar. Joe Sakic is saying the right things, the mood sounds calm, and the club remains confident that one of the NHL's best defensemen will have a new deal before the season starts. In other words: there is a storyline here, but not a crisis.
That matters because Makar is not some useful supporting piece whose future can be parked until later. He is the face of the blue line, the kind of player who tilts a series, changes a power play and makes the rest of the roster look better. The Avalanche selected him with the No. 4 pick in the 2017 NHL Draft, and since then he has turned that draft-day bet into a championship core piece, helping Colorado win the Stanley Cup in 2022 and taking the Conn Smythe Trophy along the way.
Now he is in the final season of the six-year, $54 million contract he signed on July 24, 2021, and that is what makes the timing important. Before Sept. 15, Makar can sign a contract as long as eight years. After that, the structure changes. So this is not just a standard extension window. It is a race against a calendar that suddenly matters more than usual.
Why the Avalanche are relaxed
Sakic's comments were direct and, more importantly, consistent with a team that expects to get this done. He said the sides continue talking, that he is pretty confident Makar will be signed before the season starts, and that there are no real concerns. He even went a step further and said the dialogue has been great, adding that when there is an agreement, the club will gladly announce it. That is not the language of a front office bracing for trouble.
And frankly, there is no obvious reason for panic. Makar just won his second Norris Trophy in 2025. He is 27 years old. He is coming off another elite stretch of production, with 79 points, 20 goals and 59 assists in 75 games. Since entering the league, he has piled up 136 goals, 371 assists and 507 points in 470 games. Those are not merely strong numbers for a defenseman; they are the numbers of a player who has already warped expectations for the position.
That is why this negotiation feels less like a question of whether the Avalanche want him and more like a question of how both sides structure the obvious. Makar is the sort of player teams do not let drift. He is the player you lock in early, then build the rest of the operation around with less stress and fewer what-ifs.
What the timing really says
The bigger issue is not the negotiation itself. It is the fact that Colorado has multiple major business items landing at once. Jared Bednar is also entering the final season of his contract, although there was no update on that situation. The Avalanche, in other words, are stepping toward a season opener against the Los Angeles Kings at Ball Arena in Denver with their most important defenseman still unsigned for the future and their head coach in a similar contractual lane.
That sounds dramatic, but it is also part of the modern NHL. Clubs and star players often spend time in the final year of a deal before common sense catches up with the paperwork. Sakic even made that point, saying there have been coaches and players in this situation before and there will be in the future. In his view, it is not something to lose sleep over. On the evidence available, he is probably right.
The reason this is such an easy story to overplay is that Makar's status is so secure on the ice. The Avalanche have a proven cornerstone, a player whose résumé already includes a Stanley Cup, a Conn Smythe Trophy and two Norris Trophies. That is the profile of someone who does not need a public drama to underline his value. The only real question is whether Colorado gets the contract signed before training camp or whether it drifts a little longer toward the season opener.
Either way, the conclusion is the same: the Avalanche know exactly what they have. Makar is not a problem to be solved. He is the answer, and the only sensible move is to keep him that way for a very long time.
