Cale Makar: In the end, he doesn’t want to sign a long-term contract with the Avalanche

Félix Forget
Cale Makar: In the end, he doesn’t want to sign a long-term contract with the Avalanche
Credit: X @TrendingSportsP

The offseason is increasingly coming to a close in the NHL. That said, even though play will resume shortly, there are still some issues to be resolved across the league.

There's been a lot of talk about Zachary Bolduc and Arber Xhekaj in Montreal… but across the league, the contract situations of Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar, among others, are generating buzz.

Both defensemen are less than a year away from full free agency, and they were expected to sign contract extensions this summer (which hasn't happened yet). The general consensus was that Hughes would sign a short-term deal while Makar would sign a long-term one, possibly for eight years.

But Marco D'Amico, in an article for RG Media, reported that Makar, in the end, does not want a long-term contract with the Avalanche. Like Hughes, he wants to sign a short- or medium-term deal.

The Avalanche would like to sign him to a long-term deal, but that scenario is “unlikely,” according to one of D'Amico's sources. The defenseman wants to give himself a chance to cash in big again in a few years.

We know that in Colorado, there's a culture that's been well-established for years. The team has been winning for a long time—it even hoisted the Stanley Cup a few years ago—and it's still relying on Jared Bednar and Joe Sakic in its hockey front office.

But despite all that, Makar (who is one of the organization's two star players alongside Nathan MacKinnon) doesn't want to commit long-term right now. It's clear that these kinds of contracts are no longer in vogue.

And all of this clearly demonstrates just how lucky the Habs—who haven't enjoyed the same success as the Avalanche in recent years—are to have seen their players commit to long-term deals. In a league where even a player like Makar doesn't want to sign a long-term contract, players like Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov have done just that… and they've even done so at a discount.

One might wonder if the Canadiens' young players will take a different approach when the time comes to negotiate their next contracts… but in any case, it clearly illustrates that the club is fortunate, as things stand.


Quick Thoughts

– Probably, yes.

– Nice catch.

– I like that.

– Reminder.

– Some good news and some not-so-good news for the Yankees.

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