Cale for sale is an epic fail. An Avalanche defense without Cale Makar is unthinkable. An Avs offense without No. 8 would be unwatchable.
“As a player, you’re going to have stretches where you’re not on the scoresheet and where (Makar) could still be helping the team,” TNT analyst and former NHL center told me earlier this month. “And where Cale could still be having an impact.”
To put it another way: How much did you enjoy seeing Colorado, minus Makar, struggle to score three goals over Games 1 and 2 of the Western Conference Final?
Look, we get it. Yes, the Avs Yes, Makar is due for a contract extension as soon as July 1. Yes, that extension will probably be worth anywhere from $15-17 million per season — a healthy bump from the $9-million cap hit Makar commanded in ’25-26.
The Avs need cap space. They need draft picks. They need to get younger and fresher on the ice. They need more roster flexibility off it.
Let’s workshop this. No bad ideas.
Trade Makar!
OK, except for that one.
With an aging lineup and a shrinking Stanley Cup window, it’s definitely time to think outside the box.
Last week hurt. Vegas hurt. Be angry. Be vigilant. Just don’t be silly. Any executive shopping Makar should be exiled to
In NHL history, Makar had already done it twice by the age of 27. He won’t turn 30 until October 2028. Just get a load of the other names on the list to pull that off multiple times: Paul Coffey (seven times), Bobby Orr (six), Al MacInnis (three), Dennis Potvin (three) and Phil Housley (twice).
Trade Makar for draft picks!
Depth matters in the postseason. A lot. The old adage that you go as far as your top two lines in the regular season and as far as your bottom two in the playoffs still holds up. Brock Nelson, Artturi Lehkonen, Nicolas Roy and Logan O’Connor, all of whom provided some juice against the Kings and Wild, combined for zero goals and one point against Vegas. One lousy point.
That said, anyone who tells you that a team can’t win a Stanley Cup with multiple players making $10 million or more isn’t your friend. For one, the salary cap is a moving target. For another, Florida won back-to-back titles with Aleksander Barkov and Sergei Bobrovsky on eight-figure cap hits.
Plus, two words: Mikko Rantanen.
But we won the trade!
Did you, though?
Martin Necas is one of the few forwards, granted, who can skate with Nathan MacKinnon at full tilt. No. 88 reads the game well. He also can spend so much time looking for the perfect pass that whole shifts pass him by.
The Marty Party produced one postseason goal in 2026. He’s put up two goals over 20 playoff games (with 16 helpers) for Colorado so far. He’s due to cost you $11.5 million in every cap year through 2033-34.
To general manager Chris MacFarland’s credit, he’s tried to avoid a roster that becomes too top-heavy, too Oilers South, with MacKinnon accounting for a $12.6-milion cap number and raises for Necas and Makar looming. But moving Cale just to stay in that neighborhood would be sheer Looney Tunes.
Even a shallow dive into the metrics makes Makar critics look all wet. No. 8 has strung together arguably his two least-impactful postseasons, back-to-back, in ’24-25 and ’25-26, largely due to injury. And yet, , he still logged 456 minutes and change in front of the Lumberyard tandem of Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood in goal. When No. 8 has been on the ice over the Avs’ last 20 playoff games, Colorado’s giving up 1.97 goals per 60 minutes in all strengths. With Makar on the bench, the Avs have allowed 2.92 goals per 60. That’s a difference of a goal per game in regulation — even before you factor in the offensive side of Makar’s arsenal.
Among NHL defensive tandems this postseason that have played at least 30 minutes together, the Makar-Devon Toews pairing still ranks fifth overall among playoff expected goals percentage (64%, with eight expected goals for and 4.5 goals expected against). That’s up from 13th a year ago (58.5%, 6.2 expected goals for and 4.4 against) and 14th in ’23-24 (58.3%, 6.3 expected goals for and 4.5 against).
“I guess the (heart) of the matter is, the numbers are what they are,” Olcyzk said of Makar. “His impact — they have such a deep team, they’re going to be able to get contributions in points from a lot of different guys. But he is always going to have an impact, and you always have to account for him, if you’re the other team. It’s just a matter of time before he gets on that heater and he has a four-or five-point game.”
There’s a fine blue line The Avalanche, however wounded, however shamed, however desperate, surely know better than to cross it.
