Avs have a path to re-sign Landeskog
After securing Cale Makar, team can focus on negotiations with team captain prior to free agency opening Wednesday
Star young defenseman Cale Makar and the Avalanche have given the NHL team a genuine chance to re-sign veteran left wing and team captain Gabe Landeskog.
The first and most important off-season domino fell on Saturday when, during the NHL draft, Makar agreed to a six-year, $54 million contract extension as a restricted free agent. His $9 million annual cap hit ties him as the NHL’s fourth highest-paid defenseman and accounts for
11% of the Avs’ $81.5 million salary cap.
But, given what he is — perhaps the NHL’s best defenseman at age 22 — it appears to border on a team-friendly deal that might allow Colorado to sign Landeskog before unrestricted free agency opens Wednesday.
“I believe Makar was always the first priority and everything else that happens was going to be determined by where Makar ended up,” Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said Saturday after Makar’s signing.
“At least we know Cale’s number, which is big for us going forward,” Avs general manager Joe Sakic said.
Makar’s $9 million cap hit is tied for 24th-highest among all signed NHL players. It appears that Makar and the Avs found a sweet spot between two recent signings of star defensemen: Dallas’ Miro Heiskanen, who went No. 3 overall in the 2017 draft, one spot ahead of Makar, is at an $8.45 million cap hit; and Seth Jones did a tradeand-sign deal with Chicago that elevates him to a $9.5 million cap hit beginning in 2022-23.
Heiskanen and Jones both got eight-year deals at their numbers. Makar took just six years — perhaps to help squeeze in
Landeskog, among others, after Nathan MacKinnon strikes it (more) rich after his current team-friendly deal ($6.3 million cap hit) expires July 1, 2023.
Makar seemed cognizant of the issue during a Zoom call Saturday.
“This is a team that has the potential to win — and to win now — and obviously you don’t want to get in the way of any of that,”
Makar said. “(We) tried to obviously do something that will work for both sides and I think we came to a deal that obviously works for both.”
In addition to Landeskog, the Avalanche likely wants to re-sign pending UFA goalie Philipp Grubauer and pending UFA forward Brandon Saad, and they will work out a deal for pending RFA forward Tyson Jost. Landeskog and Jost are much more likely to return than Grubauer and Saad.
“We want all of us back, especially Landy and obviously Grubi,” Makar said.