Makar's Mega Contract Has Become a Canadian Hockey Question

The interesting part of Cale Makar signing an eight-year extension worth $20.4 million per season isn't really that the Colorado Avalanche are paying Cale Makar $20.4 million. Given that this is professional sports, they should pay Cale Makar $20.4 million. He's one of the best defencemen in the world; he’s in his prime, and Colorado has made it pretty clear that it wants Makar to remain there long-term.

But what’s the deal for hockey fans in Canada?

The more interesting question for Canadian hockey fans is what happens when your best player becomes so valuable that his contract changes the way you have to build the team around him. That's where this becomes both an Oilers and a Maple Leafs story. Toronto already knows what that looks like with Auston Matthews.

The Maple Leafs have worked hard to build their team around his skills. The same is true in Edmonton. They’re working overtime to figure out how to support (and keep) Connor McDavid. Now Makar has pushed the number to another level.

And it makes you wonder what this does to the contracts of those other superstars. Matthews and McDavid aren't suddenly going to get new contracts tomorrow because Makar signed for $20.4 million. But when the NHL's best players negotiate their next deals, they aren't going to be negotiating in the same market they were in yesterday.

Makar’s mega contract has established a new number.

Maybe that number doesn't directly affect what Matthews or McDavid eventually make. But it certainly gives their agents another number to put on the table. And if you're Matthews or McDavid, why wouldn't you look at what Makar just received and ask what your own value is?

That's where this gets really interesting for the Canadian teams. The NHL salary cap keeps going up, so these enormous contracts don't necessarily mean teams are making a mistake. But every dollar still has to go somewhere. When one player takes up an enormous share of the pie, the organization has to become increasingly good at finding value elsewhere.

That's the real challenge. You can afford one superstar. You can even afford several very good players.

Can any NHL team build a winner when so much of the salary cap is invested in one player?

What gets difficult is building a complete team when the superstar takes up a massive share of the available budget. And there is something else I find interesting about Makar's deal. It doesn't necessarily make Matthews' contract look expensive anymore. It may actually help change the way we think about what elite NHL players are worth.

Makar's $20.4 million AAV is a reminder that the NHL's salary structure is changing quickly. So maybe the story isn't that Colorado just paid too much for Cale Makar.

Maybe the story is that this is what the next generation of superstar contracts will look like. And Canadian teams will have to figure out how to live with it.