It’s been a quiet summer on the long-term planning front for the Colorado Avalanche.
Joe Sakic, back in the general manager role, wrapped up business for the 2025-26 season quickly in July. There were three key members of the organization entering the final year of their contracts then. All three — Cale Makar, Artturi Lehkonen and coach Jared Bednar — are still without extensions about three weeks before training camp begins.
Sakic, speaking Sunday ahead of the second annual Avalanche-University of Denver alumni game at Magness Arena, made it clear he is not concerned.
Makar, a two-time Norris Trophy winner and co-face of the franchise alongside Nathan MacKinnon, is expected to sign the largest contract in franchise history.
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"Not really an update. We continue talking," Sakic said when asked about No. 8. "I'm pretty confident that he'll be signed before the season starts.
"I'm not worried about it. I don't think Cale is worried about it. The dialogue has been great. When there's an agreement, we'll be glad to announce it. Hopefully something will be done before the start of training camp."
Lehkonen has been a critical member of the club since arriving ahead of the 2022 trade deadline. The 31-year-old Lehkonen had 21 goals and 48 points in 70 games last season, but was injured during the second round of the 2026 playoffs and did not have his typical postseason impact after returning in the conference finals against Vegas.
Bednar is the most accomplished coach in franchise history, and is entering his 11th season at the helm. He's the second-longest tenured coach in the league, behind only Tampa Bay's Jon Cooper. There have been calls to fire Bednar from outside the organization after stunning postseason endings each of the past two seasons, but management and ownership have stood firm in its support of the coach both times.
"Everything's great," Sakic said of his relationship with Bednar. "Not worried about that. There's been coaches, been players that have entered the last year of their deals before, and there's going to be in the future. Not really concerned about that, and I don't think Jared is either.
Makar is entering the final season of a six-year, $54 million contract. His next deal could be worth twice as much per season or more. The financial environment in the NHL has been changing rapidly in recent seasons as the salary cap ceiling has experienced unprecedented spikes after years of post-COVID pandemic stagnation.
There is also a new collective bargaining agreement coming in the NHL, and one part matters for Makar and the Avs. The current maximum contract length is eight years to re-sign a player and seven to sign with a new club. That will change with the CBA, and the last day Makar and the Avs could agree to an eight-year pact is Sept. 15, one day before the new CBA begins.
"No, not really worried about (that deadline)," Sakic said. "I think when there's a deal announced or signed and agreed to, both sides will be comfortable with whatever term it is."
Makar and fellow defensive superstar Quinn Hughes are both expected to reset the market for elite defensemen. The top contract for a defenseman in 2026-27 will be Pittsburgh's Erik Karlsson with an $11.5 million cap hit. Former Avs defenseman Bo Byram has signed a new deal with Chicago that starts in 2027-28 that carries a $12.5 million cap hit.
Hughes and Makar are expected to blow past that. The landscape has changed, even since Byram's surprising mega deal was announced July 1. The Anaheim Ducks matched a five-year, $90 million offer sheet for center Leo Carlsson in early July, then the San Jose Sharks signed their franchise star Macklin Celebrini to a five-year, $94 million pact. At $18.8 million per season, Celebrini has the largest contract in league history on a per-year basis.
Whether or not Makar and/or Hughes top that remains to be seen.
"I think everybody's projecting where the cap is going, and that's why you're seeing these contracts at a certain level," Sakic said. "Everybody wants to lock up their young stars, and that's what is happening."
While camp is a few weeks away, the Avs' projected lineup looks pretty similar to the one that won the Presidents' Trophy with a franchise-record 121 points before the stunning conference finals sweep by the Golden Knights. Sakic and Co. re-signed defensemen Brent Burns and Brett Kulak, so the defense corps and goaltending will be the same.
There were changes up front, notably trades of Valeri Nichushkin, Ross Colton and Jack Drury to provide some salary cap flexibility. Younger players will compete to replace Drury and Colton, while the Avs signed free agent Jaden Schwartz to a three-year, $9.75 million deal to fit somewhere among the top-nine forwards and ostensibly replace Nichushkin.
"We like the roster," Sakic said. "I think we have a good enough team to compete for the Stanley Cup. It's a long season. It's a process. Just got to try and get better every day. Obviously, there's some changes, but there's changes with every roster, every year. But we have the core here and it's a great core. They have a standard and we expect and assume that everyone's going to live up to that standard."
