The Los Angeles Angels, mind you, cost Uncle Stan quite a bit more than three bucks during BP.

It took a few decades, but a man named for two Major League Baseball players is about to join the ranks of MLB ownership. Enos (as in Enos Slaughter) Stanley (as in Stan Musial) Kroenke, according to reports, has reached an agreement to buy the Halos from previous owner Arte Moreno, effective in early 2027.

Assuming the deal goes through, that puts Stan a leg up at the next family BBQ on the baseball front, at least. The Penner Sports Group — which is overseen by Walton-Penner and her husband Greg and, like Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, is part of the Walmart financial empire — has owned the Broncos since August 2022 and purchased a 40% stake in the Rockies this past April. Penner said last month that they had no plans to extend that investment, and that control of the flailing baseball franchise will remain with the club’s majority owners, the Monfort family.

Yeah, that last one didn’t sit well with the baseball sickos on the Grading The Week staff, either. Especially after longtime season-ticket holders we know texted us to grouse about receiving notice from the club of a 14% price hike for next season, all while a potentially nuclear work stoppage looms in early 2027.

The Monforts are the Dodgers of leveraging real estate and selling alcohol. Unfortunately, the Rox also play in the same division as the real Dodgers and are therefore trying to avoid becoming the first MLB club since the Mets in 1965 to string together four straight seasons with 100 or more losses.

Kroenke buys Angels, Rox still stink — D

In a perfect world, KSE would’ve bought the Rockies from the Monforts ages ago. The games would fill up those dry summer months of programming on Altitude TV and spice up the evening hours on Altitude Sports Radio. Nikola Jokic would be rocking the owner’s box at Coors Field, a world-class player at a world-class venue,

While KSE’s stewardship of the Nuggets and Avs has at times been mercurial, it’s also been fairly successful from a standings perspective. And given the concurrent sagas of Peyton Watson, whom the Nuggets just traded to Cleveland rather than extend; and Cale Makar, who just landed the largest contract in NHL history, it’ll be fascinating to see how KSE handles payroll in a non-salary-capped sport. (Well, non-capped for now, boys and girls.)

Uncle Stan had reportedly bid for the Dodgers before, and like 99.99% of big-time North American sports franchise purchases, this one feels more like a land grab on Kroenke’s part than some burning desire to become the next Gene Autry. KSE’s SoFi Stadium, home to the Rams and landlords to the Chargers, is the centerpiece of the Hollywood Park entertainment district in Inglewood, Calif.

Magic Johnson, a minority owner of the Dodgers, welcomed Stan into the MLB ownership club via X.com, then thanked him for letting the NBA icon “rent their beautiful yacht named Aquila for 7 years!”

Those Walmart braggin’ rights are in Stan’s court, given that KSE’s got a tentacle in every major North American sports circuit, with the MLB arm (Angels) joining the NFL (Rams), NBA (Nuggets), NHL (Avalanche), and MLS (Rapids).

And given the global reach of the Arsenal brand, only the oceans cover more of planet Earth than the Kroenkes do at the moment.

On the baseball side, wish Stan luck. The Angels are — were? — one of the few MLB ownership situations that might have a more contentious vibe with its fan base than the Rockies do with Denverites. The Halos are on their sixth manager in eight years. The Angels even had their very own Kris Bryant situation in third baseman Anthony Rendon. The former All-Star landed a seven-year, $246-million contract with the Halos after helping Washington win a World Series in 2019 — then promptly fell apart. The infielder, now 36 years old, has spent this season away from the club, yet hasn’t formally retired.

Rendon’s agent? Scott Boras. Yep — the same guy who represents KB23. Small world, isn’t it? If nothing else, the GTW sickos are looking forward to watching Mike Trout run around in a Jokic jersey or a Nathan MacKinnon sweater soon.

We kid, of course. Nelson, the Avalanche’s affable center, the Olympic gold-medalist with the graying temples and silky stick, celebrates his 35th birthday in October. His contract expires after the 2027-’28 season. Same with rock-steady defenseman Josh Manson, who also turns 35 in about five weeks.

The Avalanche say their Stanley Cup window is open for the length of Cale Makar’s new eight-year, $163.2-million extension — a pact that runs when All Hail Cale turns 37.

No. 8 deserves every last penny. Makar’s an Av for life, and he deserves that, too. But that also puts the onus now on general manager Joe Sakic to make sure Cale’s life doesn’t turn miserable after ’28.

It takes a village to lift Lord Stanley. Even if the NHL salary cap keeps climbing, Sakic will have 39.2% of his available spending for ’27-28 locked up in just three players: Makar ($20.4 million), Nathan MacKinnon ($12.6 million); and Martin Necas ($11.5 million).

You win Presidents’ Trophies with your top two lines. You win Stanley Cups with your bottom two.

The Avs look great with the former. It’s the latter that worries you.

The depth to grind through eight killer weeks of playoff hockey, the best, and hardest, postseason in North America, is going to have to come cheap — or cheaper, at least — in order to balance the books for the second half of Makar’s mega-contract.

Which means finding and developing draft picks you keep instead of shipping them out at the trade deadline. Which means landing more Logan O’Connors to spice up your spine of Cale, Nate and Marty. Which means rolling up your sleeves as an organization to get busy building a beast for Makar 2.0.

“I’m not the one that gets to manage the team, so I let (Sakic) do that,” Makar quipped Monday at the Inverness Denver Hotel, where he and Sakic took questions a few days after agreeing to (for now) the biggest contract in NHL history.

“But think for myself, obviously, everybody talks about this window that we’re in right now, the ability that we have to win. And yeah, we feel that. But at the same time, I think that window is extended — I think my term of the (length of my) deal should reflect kind of how I feel this team should go, success-wise, and the opportunity that we’re going to have over that time to win championships.”

The Panthers won two Cups with two players (goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and center Aleksander Barkov) making $10 million each. Yet no NHL team has snatched Lord Stanley with a roster featuring multiple guys making $11 million or more. Sakic has two now (MacKinnon, Necas), with three, on paper, starting next year, when Makar’s extension kicks in.

Conventional hockey wisdom so far says that top-heavy rosters are good for fantasy leagues — but tend to flame out pretty quick on the postseason stage, when referees’ whistles get swallowed and the middle of the ice starts to resemble a clogged artery.

I asked Sakic Monday about that very argument, the fear among Avs fans that paying for greatness could push Makar and MacKinnon farther away from another parade. His response was unequivocal.

“(I) probably disagree with that statement,” Super Joe replied. “You can’t win without superstars.

“Yeah, you need depth. You (also) need your team playing really well at the right time when it comes to playoffs. You need bounces, but you need your players to be healthy. We ran into the injury bug a little bit last year, especially with Cale.

“We had a bad week (against Vegas) that costed us, but we had a team that was built to win. It didn’t happen, and we expect our team to be built to win for a long time … unless you have guys like Cale and Nate on your team, it makes it a lot harder.”

All true. On the other hand, have you looked at the Penguins lately? Pittsburgh rebuilt a young core on the fly around veterans Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang last winter — putting up 98 regular-season points (41-25-16) and returning to the postseason for the first time since 2022. The Penguins got 18% of their goals from players 24 years or younger, including Egor Chinakhov (18 goals), Ben Kindel (17), Elmer Soderblom (five) and Rutger McGroarty (three).

Per Spotrac.com, — or composed of players drafted by that club. The Avs’ percentage of “self-drafted” players was 20.9% …. second lowest in the league, ahead of only Boston’s 19%.

Only four teams were below the 30% “self-drafted” threshold, and three were among those you’d expect: Colorado, Boston, Edmonton (21.3%) and Florida (28.3%). Pittsburgh was at 38%.

When it comes to chasing Cup No. 2, we all know No. 8 can do the job.

He sure as heck can’t do it alone.

“And yeah, it’s been a couple of tough endings (in the playoffs) recently,” Makar noted.

“And for myself, obviously, the pressure is going to be amplified. But at the same time, that’s within me to answer, to even bring up my game. And then to find pieces around that, those depth (guys), that are going to outperform in playoffs, that are going to bring us up even more … it’s exciting when we have all the top guys like that. But when we have a full team of guys, I think that’s the true confidence that it gave me to basically be here, hopefully, for the long, long, long haul.”

For Nelson, 54 may well be the new 30. But Makar needs some fresh blood if that contract is to age as well as a franchise hopes and a city dreams.

That has started to change, and this summer will be remembered as a significant move forward for the league’s top talents. Cale Makar’s new contract with the Colorado Avalanche was the latest and largest move to reset the top of the market: an eight-year, $163.2 million pact that, for now, is the richest in NHL history.

The second number in the contract elicited plenty of reactions around the league shortly after the deal was announced Friday, but the first number — the term — was a big part of why this contract could prove to be a shrewd one for the Avs.

“It was about getting to a good, fair number and then providing that term to give some cost certainty to the team to be able to build around it and get through some of those years where the bigger contracts are coming up,” said Brian Bartlett, who along with his father Steve and brother Scott, represents Makar. “It gives (the Avs) flexibility instead of coming up the same time (Nathan MacKinnon) does or the year before Nate does and then all of a sudden the number is $26 million, $27 million instead of locking in at today’s prices.

“It is high enough to still be world-changing, generational-changing money but then to lock in for eight years was the give-back in exchange for the high AAV.”

That was a theme of Colorado’s press conference Monday afternoon, when Avs president/general manager Joe Sakic and Makar discussed the new contract. Makar is the NHL’s first $20 million man, with a $20.4 million cap hit that begins in 2027-28 and runs through 2035.

The bet from the Avs is that others will soon join Makar and pass him as the cap ceiling continues to rise. The NHL went through a stagnant period after the COVID-19 pandemic, but the ceiling is now expected to spike annually in the coming seasons.

“Taking the eight years … you see a lot of deals trending a little bit shorter now with some of the bigger contracts,” Makar said. “I felt like, for me, it was kind of that trade-off of wanting to give the team stability over the entire contract and being able to build around that. For myself too, showing my commitment here and how much that I’ve loved it here and everything. I think for me that was never a question. I kind of always wanted those eight years.”

Both sides said the initial conversations about the contract began in early July, when Makar was first eligible to sign a new contract. There was a deadline if the deal was going to be eight years — Sept. 15 is the last day players are eligible for them before a new seven-year maximum arrives with a new collective bargaining agreement on Sept. 16.

Still, waiting until later in the summer helped this deal land where it did. Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov signing for $17 million per year this past September signaled a new era for superstar contracts, but Connor Bedard, Leo Carlsson and Macklin Celebrini all signing for between $15 million and $18.8 million helped cement where things are trending for franchise players.

“The market changed drastically this summer,” Bartlett said. “Some of those contracts were more than people expected. Part of it was a conscious effort on our part to not rush into anything. There was no urgency to get it done two months before camp instead of two weeks before. We wanted to kind of wait and see what the market would look like, and it probably made the team feel more comfortable about it too.

“I think it helped everyone feel comfortable with where the trajectory of salaries are going. While it is a really big number, we have every confidence in Cale and his ability that at some point as this plays out, he’s going to be underpaid during this contract at some point and maybe sooner rather than later.”

Now the Avs have their top three players — MacKinnon, Makar, and Martin Necas — all locked in together for the next five seasons. Their combined cap hit for the first four years of Makar’s deal will be $44.5 million. That’s a lot — easily the highest in the NHL right now — but other clubs will eventually close that gap.

They will account for about 39% of the cap in 2027-28, and that share should decrease each year going forward. If the Avs do not win the Stanley Cup again in the near future, critics will likely point to the top-heavy construction as one of the issues.

Sakic is willing to take that bet and see how it plays out.

“You can’t win without superstars,” Sakic said. “Yeah, you need depth. You need your team playing really well at the right time. When it comes to playoffs, you need bounces, but you need your players to be healthy. We ran into the injury bug a little bit last year, especially with Cale. We had a bad week that cost us, but we had a team that was built to win. Didn’t happen, and we expect our team to be built to win for a long time.

“Unless you have guys like Cale and Nate on your team, it makes it a lot harder.”

Cale Makar and the Colorado Avalanche delivered the latest shockwave on Friday afternoon. The Avs and their franchise defenseman agreed to the largest contract in NHL history, an eight-year, $163.2 million pact that makes Makar the league’s first $20 million man and keeps him under contract with Colorado through 2035.

“First reaction … wow!” former NHL coach Bruce Boudreau said. “It wasn’t long ago that $163 million to a hockey player would never be thought of. That¶¶Òõap NBA territory, so good for him.”

Makar is widely considered the NHL’s premier defenseman. He has won the Norris Trophy twice, while being named a finalist six times in his first seven seasons. He also won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year and the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs in 2022, when the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup.

“A unicorn deserves to break the bank,” TSN analyst Jon Goyens said. “He helps you win every night, helps you win Cup(s) and helps you sell tickets and merchandise.”

The path to a spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame is clear, and with good health, Makar will be a first-ballot lock far before this new contract is complete.

“Cale’s career to date is on par with many of the best defensemen to ever play in the history of the NHL,” ESPN analyst Kevin Weekes said. “He’s as great a person as he is a player — transformational. Love that the Avs recognized that from Day 1, and this new contract reflects that amazing partnership between him, the organization and the fans.”

Four different players have held the title “most expensive player in the NHL” since the Carolina Hurricanes lifted the Cup to complete the 2025-26 season. It was Kirill Kaprizov, with his $17 million cap hit, when the season ended.

But the Anaheim Ducks matched a 5-year, $90 million offer sheet for Leo Carlsson from the Philadelphia Flyers in early July. Carlsson, at $18 million, will have the highest cap hit in the league this coming season.

Three weeks later, Macklin Celebrini signed a five-year $94 deal that kicks in next season. His $18.8 million cap hit was set to pace the league, but Makar has already eclipsed him, and Minnesota’s Quinn Hughes could as well.

“Love it for him,” MSG Network analyst Cory Schneider said. “(Makar) is worth every penny and the financial landscape of the NHL world has evolved overnight, so this is the cost of doing business to keep the best player in the world — 1B to Connor McDavid as 1A. Love seeing NHL players signing deals worth $160 million overall too. It’s good for the game.”

Makar and Hughes were in the same situation when the offseason began. They are considered the two best defensemen in the league, and both are entering the final year of their current contracts.

The big difference is that Makar was drafted by the Avalanche and has already forged a legacy in Denver. Hughes was a huge trade addition early last season for the Wild. Minnesota is under immense pressure to convince Hughes to stay, but also doesn’t have the long-term equity with the player.

“I was born 10 years too soon!” said Bryce Salvador, a former NHL captain and defenseman for the New Jersey Devils, who now works for MSG Network. “It’s great to see the league is healthy, and provided the revenue continues to grow, players are going to continue to make more money — as they should.”

In the short term, the Avs have to be elated that Makar is signed and for the maximum eight years. It was hard to imagine Makar’s situation ever reaching a point like Mikko Rantanen’s did, but that memory is still plenty fresh.

There’s at least a handful of players in this league worth $20 million, but there might not be two handfuls. And the Avs have two of them. Keeping Makar with Nathan MacKinnon remains the bedrock of everything. The rest can be figured out.

“Not really surprised,” NHL Network analyst E.J. Hardek said. “I figured it was kind of whatever (Makar) wanted to sign for. Probably pressure as the bar-setter for him to get to a high number. But, he’s a special and very impactful player, so he deserves it.”

Makar’s deal is only $400,000 per year below the maximum he could have signed for — $20.8 million, which is 20 percent of the salary cap ceiling in 2026-27. But he won’t cost nearly 20 percent of the cap in any of the deal.

The cap ceiling is expected to rise to $113.5 million in 2027-28, when Markar’s deal begins. He’ll cost just a shade below 18 percent of the cap in the first year, and then less if the ceiling continues to rise like it has the past few years.

Makar, Celebrini and Carlsson have ushered in a new era of star-level spending. Hughes will soon join them.

It’s clear that Makar being on the roster is valuable at any number. How valuable, by dollars and cents, could depend on how many other defensemen join him and Hughes near the top of the financial food chain.

Zach Werenski, the 2026 Norris Trophy winner, is eligible for a similar megadeal next summer. So is Winnipeg’s No. 1 guy, Josh Morrissey. Miro Heiskanen, Evan Bouchard and Adam Fox are all two years out, along with Calder Trophy winner Matthew Schaefer.

But a lot of the best young defensemen in the league — Lane Hutson, Jackson Lacombe, Moritz Seider, Brock Faber, Noah Dobson, Thomas Harley and Rasmus Dahlin among them — are already locked into long-term contracts and won’t be joining the $ 15-million-plus club until at least halfway through Makar’s new deal.

Think of it like Nikola Jokic. He was absolutely worth $55 million to the Denver Nuggets this past season as one of the best players in the world. But he was even more valuable because 25 players in the league made at least $45 million.

“There are a lot of layers to it,” MSG analyst and 20-year NHL defenseman Ken Danyeko said. “The landscape has changed, as we know. I still think teams have to be careful and not get careless. I know easier said then done. I go by recent history and the balance on teams’ salaries that win Cups — I think that means something.

“Having said that, if there’s a guy you can pay this much, I would think it would be Makar. Best d-man in the league. But for me, that doesn’t mean you pay an above-average d-man $13 to $14 million because Makar set the bar. You have to still draw the line if you are going to have team success.”

The Colorado Avalanche and the superstar defenseman have agreed to an eight-year contract, he announced Friday afternoon . The deal is worth $163.2 million, which makes it the largest in NHL history. It will carry a cap hit of $20.4 million per season.

Makar has one season left on his current deal, a six-year, $54 million pact, which he signed on July 24, 2021. The new contract will start with the 2027-28 season, and runs through 2035.

“Cale is a generational defenseman and his accomplishments speak for themselves,” Avalanche president and general manager Joe Sakic said in a statement. “He is obviously a tremendous competitor and player but even more so a great person, teammate and ambassador for the Avalanche and the Rocky Mountain region. We are beyond thrilled to get this deal done and have Cale in an Avalanche sweater for the next decade.”

Makar’s new contract includes a full no-movement clause, and a total of $127.6 million in signing bonuses. Those one-time payments are made at July 1 every year.

Erik Karlsson has been the highest-paid defenseman for the past six seasons after signing an eight-year, $92 million contract ($11.5 million cap hit) in June 2019. Makar’s former teammate, Bowen Byram, surpassed that deal on July 1 when he signed a six-year, $75 million pact ($12.5 million cap hit) with the Chicago Blackhawks. Karlsson’s average annual value will still be the largest for next season before these new megadeals kick in the following year.

Two young forwards — Anaheim’s Leo Carlsson and San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini — reset the top of the market for all players after that. The Ducks matched a five-year, $90 million offer sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers, which will make Carlsson the most expensive player in 2026-27 with an $18 million cap hit. Celebrini then signed a five-year, $94 million contract late last month. His deal, with an $18.8 million cap hit, begins in 2027-28.

The No. 4 selection in the 2018 NHL draft, Makar quickly ascended to the top of the sport and hasn’t slowed down since. The two-time Norris Trophy winner will turn 28 on Oct. 30, is a. He has been a finalist in six of his first seven NHL seasons — he and Bobby Orr are the only two players in league history to do that.

Makar also won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 2019-20, and was the Conn Smythe Trophy winner when the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2022.

The Calgary native won the Alberta Junior Hockey League twice with the Brooks Bandits, including an MVP award. He won the Hobey Baker Award as the best player in college hockey as a sophomore at UMass.

Makar has won the IIHF World Junior Championships and the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off with Canada. He, Nathan MacKinnon and Devon Toews won silver medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.

“I am so excited and humbled to continue to wear the Avalanche sweater and represent this incredible organization and community,” Makar said in a statement. “I look forward to getting back on the ice with my teammates and continuing to work toward our goal of bringing the Stanley Cup back to the Mile High City.”

Makar has 136 goals and 507 points — both franchise records for a defenseman — in 470 career regular-season games. He has 26 goals and 90 points in 90 playoff games. His 1.0 points per postseason contest is fifth all-time in NHL among defensemen with 20-plus games, trailing only Bobby Orr, Evan Bouchard, Brian Leetch and Paul Coffey.

He is one of 14 defensemen with multiple Norris Trophy wins. One more would make him the 10th player with three, and two more would put him in the inner circle of all-time greats with Bobby Orr, Dough Harvey, Nicklas Lidstrom and Ray Bourque.

Makar and Minnesota’s Quinn Hughes, widely considered the two best defensemen in the world, were both in the same situation this offseason — entering the final year of their current contracts and eligible for an extension. Hughes and the Wild have not agreed to a deal.

The NHL’s new collective bargaining agreement begins Sept. 16. The day before is the final day that a player can sign an eight-year contract with his current club. Seven years will be the new maximum moving forward.

It will be about making the Avs’ Cale Makar’s team.

This will be disputed because of the presence of captain Gabe Landeskog and former MVP Nathan MacKinnon.

But a long-term agreement, which is inching closer according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, makes this part of Makar’s legacy. And burden.

He will be here long after Landeskog retires and MacKinnon fades from superstardom.

When you sign a monster contract in your prime and are headed to the Hall of Fame, the pressure is on to deliver another championship.

Two would be even better. But Makar is too great to only hold one Cup.

After a flameout of historical proportions against the Vegas Golden Knights, the Avs reacted with more complacency than urgency.

Operating general manager Joe Sakic made tweaks to the roster, but the heaviest lift involved clearing salary cap space by trading Valeri Nichushkin, Ross Colton and Jack Drury.

The moves made it easier to accommodate Makar. And if you still don’t understand why he is the biggest of deals, follow the money.

Even if he does not finish with the NHL’s highest average annual value for any player — not just a defenseman — the floor should be $17 million. Whether it runs for eight years — a possibility if signed before Sept. 15 — or a shorter period, the financial commitment will explain his significance.

At 27, he is the present and the future.

Makar has never put the Avs in a difficult position, always playing nice, playing well and playing hurt. He has all the leverage and could be demanding, cackling to the armored truck as he boxes in the organization.

He would never do that. The only thing Makar regularly features more than ability is humility.

But a new deal means he can never just be one of the guys again. No blending into the curtains. If healthy, no forgettable postseasons.

Like Makar, several Avs players were hurt against the Golden Knights, which provides a reason, not an excuse for their elimination.

It does not make it any less embarrassing. The Knights suffocated and frustrated the Avs, turning the middle of the ice into a barnyard for pigs to slop.

After Las Vegas completed its Legion of Broom, MacKinnon could not be bothered to meet the press despite multiple requests. He was injured, but it was not his larynx. He should have talked. It is part of the responsibility that comes with his stature.

Makar waited at his locker, taking questions. He expressed disappointment about the exit, about not doing more, even though he looked like he had one working shoulder in his limited participation.

He was hardly why the Avs came up snake eyes. Brock Nelson, Nichushkin, Scott Wedgewood, MacKinnon and Brent Burns all deserved blame for the collapse. And, of course, so did the coach.

But when Makar addressed the media, it signaled something important. He took responsibility for the mess and vouched for Jared Bednar when I asked him about the possibility of the boss getting fired.

When Sakic held the season-ending press conference several days later, he admitted Bednar wasn’t going anywhere because the players had his back.

We know Makar wanted him back.

Makar’s defense.

Makar’s power play.

Makar’s pressure.

Don’t get lost in the minutiae. The term will not be the issue with any Makar contract.

We all assume that Makar is going to retire as a member of the Avalanche. The organization wants this, and Sakic declared it, saying, “Cale is going to finish his career here.”

This is the likely outcome because of his talent, leadership and performance.

Makar has earned every cent of his money. But when you reach his level, the conversation shifts to debates about greatness.

It would be a shame if what is happening to the Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic were to become Makar’s fate. Jokic will not be considered among the top 10 all-time players without another title. And he does not feel close as the Nuggets are trapped by unmovable contracts, age and injuries.

Makar could be kind and give the Avs some breathing room on his extension. The only reason to do that is to help win a championship. Stan Kroenke doesn’t need a charitable act to run the franchise, given his $26 billion portfolio valuation of his sports franchises.

Unlike the Nuggets, the Avs are right there.

Colorado is considered a favorite to win the Stanley Cup by several sportsbooks, and no worse than third behind the reigning champion Hurricanes and the former champion Panthers.

We know the Avs will play well during the regular season. They always do. No team was better a year ago, and the President’s Trophy got them a great seed and broken dreams.

The referendum will not arrive until the postseason.

Makar has performed his best when it matters most, leading the Avs to the 2022 Stanley Cup. He delivered 29 points in 20 games to net the Conn Smythe Trophy.

That seems like a long time ago.

Bruins legendary defenseman Bobby Orr won two Stanley Cups.

It is a reasonable ask of Makar.

We know he can do it. The difference moving forward with an eventual new contract is that we will expect him to.

The Avs will be on one of the national networks 16 times in the United States after Disney and TNT announced their broadcast schedules Wednesday for the upcoming campaign. That total is ninth in the league and second in the Western Conference behind Minnesota’s 17 appearances. Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins are the co-leaders with 20 national games, along with the Boston Bruins.

Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and the Avalanche set a franchise record with 121 points this past season en route to the Presidents’ Trophy before a stunning four-game sweep by the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final.

Colorado’s season opener, Sept. 30 at Ball Arena against the Los Angeles Kings, will be one of seven Avalanche games on TNT this season. Another is the 2027 NHL Winter Classic, which will be on New Year’s Eve at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City against the Utah Mammoth.

The Avs’ first appearance on ESPN will be Oct. 13 at Dallas against Mikko Rantanen, Matt Duchene and the rival Stars. That night is part of the NHL Frozen Frenzy when all 32 clubs will play with games starting at 15-minute intervals to stagger them throughout the night.

Colorado’s lone appearance on ABC will be April 10, when Quinn Hughes and the Minnesota Wild come to Denver for the final game of the regular season.

Here’s a look at when the Avalanche will be on national television this season:

• Wednesday, Sept. 30: vs. Los Angeles, TNT
• Tuesday, Oct. 13: at Dallas, ESPN
• Wednesday, Oct. 14: vs. Dallas, TNT
• Thursday, Nov. 5: vs. Nashville, ESPN+
• Tuesday, Dec. 1: at Nashville, TNT
• Tuesday, Dec. 8: at Philadelphia, ESPN+
• Thursday, Dec. 31: at Utah, TNT*
• Tuesday, Jan. 12: at Pittsburgh, ESPN+
• Tuesday, Feb. 9: at Carolina, ESPN+
• Wednesday, Feb. 17: at Edmonton, TNT
• Sunday, Feb. 28: at Chicago, ESPN
• Monday, March 15: vs. Edmonton, ESPN
• Wednesday, March 17: vs. Minnesota, TNT
• Tuesday, March 23: vs. Utah, ESPN+
• Sunday, April 4: at Minnesota, TNT
• Saturday, April 10: vs. Minnesota, ABC

* 2027 NHL Winter Classic at Rice-Eccles Stadium

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.

Avalanche 2026-27 schedule: Best matchups, toughest stretches in NHL’s new 84-game slate

"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."

Colorado will have back-to-back games just 10 times after the NHL released its schedule for next season on Thursday. Three of them are among the first 10 games and six are before Thanksgiving. The first 84-game slate since before the franchise moved to Denver from Quebec City gets a little less congested after that and includes a nearly week-long holiday break.

The Avs are the reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners, but will be trying to move past a shocking postseason exit for the second straight year after being swept by the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2026 Western Conference Final.

Here’s a look at some of the highlights from Colorado’s 2026-27 schedule:

Sept. 30 vs. Los Angeles — The Avs will welcome the Kings to Ball Arena to start the season. There will be a banner raising, if not the one fans were expecting after such a dominant 2025-26 season. Colorado swept Los Angeles in the opening round of the 2026 playoffs.

Oct. 10 vs. Toronto — Avs fans will get an early look at Gavin McKenna, the No. 1 selection in the 2026 NHL draft, when the Maple Leafs come to Denver.

Oct. 13 at Dallas, Oct. 14 vs. Dallas — Colorado will play four games against each of its seven Central Division neighbors. Half of the matchups with Mikko Rantanen and the Stars are a midweek back-to-back in Games No. 6 of 7 of the season. These two rivals also have back-to-back games on Jan. 22 and Jan. 24, with the latter at Ball Arena.

Oct. 16 vs. Pittsburgh — We’re running low on Nathan MacKinnon-Sidney Crosby matchups. The two friends will also see each other on Jan. 12 in Pittsburgh. This probably isn’t Crosby’s last trip to Denver, but it could be. Landon DuPount, the expected No. 1 pick in the 2027 NHL draft, will also be in town this weekend. Michigan plays the University of Denver at Magness Arena on Oct. 16 and 17.

Oct. 25 at Nashville, Nov. 5 vs. Nashville — A couple of early-season matchups with the Predators, who now include many more people with Avalanche ties. Chris MacFarland left to become Nashville’s president and general manager in June, and he traded for both Jack Drury and Ross Colton.

Nov. 27 at Minnesota — A Friday matinee the day after Thanksgiving, this will be the Avs’ only meeting with the Wild until March. Colorado and Minnesota will play three times in the final 13 contests of the season. The Avs handled Quinn Hughes and the Wild in five games during the second round of the 2026 playoffs.

Dec. 1-8 at Boston, Detroit, N.Y. Rangers, N.Y. Islanders, St. Louis — This is the longest road trip of the Avs’ season, and also the silliest one geographically. Boston to New York City is one of the shortest flights of the season, or a train ride. Instead, the Avs will go to Detroit in between. And then have a Long Island-St. Louis back-to-back that will be one of the longest in club history, though the game against the Islanders is in the afternoon, at least.

Dec. 12 vs. Washington — This is almost certainly the last time the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer, Alex Ovechkin, will be in Denver. It should be quite the farewell tour for Ovechkin this season, and the Capitals loaded up this summer to try and make it a memorable one. This game also kicks off the first of two five-game homestands.

Dec. 18 vs. Carolina — The fourth game of that homestand will feature the 2026 Stanley Cup champion Hurricanes and their lone trip to Denver.

Dec. 31 at Utah — The marquee game on the NHL’s calendar — the 2027 Winter Classic at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City. The Avs have to play a home game on Dec. 29, but should get to practice at the football stadium the next day before the outdoor game on New Year’s Eve.

Jan. 2 at Vegas, Jan. 4 vs. Vegas — Going straight from the outdoor game to back-to-back tilts with the club that ended their dream season could be interesting. The Golden Knights will have a new coach and like the Avs had to do some salary cap gymnastics this summer, but they should be one of the top teams in the Western Conference again.

Feb. 15 vs. Columbus — The Avalanche will play Valeri Nichushkin and the Blue Jackets on Nov. 3, but this will be the first game back in Denver for him after being traded in June. Expect the memories of the 2022 championship run to be front and center that night, both in the tribute video and with Ball Arena’s reception.

March 5 at San Jose — This is the second of a three-game road trip, but it is also the day of the NHL’s trade deadline. For the second straight year, the Avs will play on that day.

March 9-17 vs. Philadelphia, N.Y. Rangers, Chicago, Edmonton, Minnesota — The second of two five-game homestands, this one is part of seven home games in an eight-game stretch. If the Avs need to make a late push, this might be the time to do it.

April 10 vs. Minnesota — The Avs will hope that Game No. 82 doesn’t have any postseason implications, but this would be a doozy of a season finale if it does. Colorado also finishes with six of its final nine games on the road, including a three-game trek to Minnesota, Vancouver and Calgary just before the finale.

Joe Sakic said superstar Cale Makar isn’t going anywhere, but his next contract will have a huge impact on how the Avs attempt to construct a Stanley Cup-contending roster into the next decade. Artturi Lehkonen has been a critical supporting star for the Avs since arriving at the trade deadline ahead of the club’s 2022 Stanley Cup run.

Both players have one year left on their current deals. The cap ceiling is expected to be $113 million for 2027-28, the first year of their new deals. That is $29.5 million more, or about 35% more than it was when Nathan MacKinnon started his eight-year, $100.8 million contract in 2023-24.

The negotiations for each deal will be entirely different. Makar is one of the best players in the world in the prime of his career. MacKinnon famously said Makar should get $20 million per season the day after Mikko Rantanen was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Lehkonen is an extremely valuable player and a beloved teammate, but he’ll also be 32 when his next contract begins. It’s hard to fathom a number too big for the Avs with Makar, but it will be different with Lehkonen.

What might their contracts look like? The salary cap ceiling is surging to previously unforeseen levels, making it more difficult to project new deals. Sakic said last week that talks on extensions that don’t kick in until next year will start in mid-July. Maybe some deals signed by current free agents will provide more data on what contracts will look like moving forward.

Let’s try to find some comparable deals, and then adjust for the rising cap. Get ready to hear a lot about the percentage of the cap in the coming days/weeks/months to justify some cap hits that look … a little different than what we’re used to.

Cale Makar

Just kidding — there are no comparables for Makar.

Well, not as of Tuesday, anyway. Makar is one of the two best defensemen in the world. The other guy, Quinn Hughes, is also entering the final year of his contract. They’re on the same timeline. Who signs first, and will it impact the other?

The other issue — no elite defenseman has signed a contract as a pending UFA in a long time. It’s a weird quirk. The nine highest-paid forwards in the NHL right now all signed deals as pending unrestricted free agents.

Only three of the 10 highest-paid defensemen did. The other seven signed their deals as pending restricted free agents. That is a slightly different negotiation. If Makar had been an unrestricted free agent when he signed his last deal, he’d have gotten more than $54 million over six years.

Erik Karlsson and Drew Doughty both signed contracts of $11 million or more that began with the 2019-20 season. No other defenseman signed for that much per season until Rasmus Dahlin signed the same pact as Doughty — 8 years, $88 million. He was a pending restricted free agent, and that deal began two years ago.

Karlsson is the most expensive defenseman at $11.5 million. Makar and Hughes will reset the top of the defense market, and then reigning Norris Trophy winner Zach Werenski will be the next megadeal for a pending unrestricted free agent next year. Calder Trophy winner Matthew Schaefer will also be ready for a new deal next summer, and it is expected he’ll blow past what Makar got coming off his entry-level contract.

Here are the top-five contracts signed by defensemen who were pending unrestricted free agents in the league right now:

The percentage of the cap in year one of those deals matters. P.K. Subban also signed a deal that was worth a touch more than 13% of the cap when he was coming off a Norris Trophy win in 2014.

Both Makar and Hughes can make the case that they are among the top five to seven players in the sport, regardless of position. If Bobby Orr or Ray Bourque were 26 or 27 years old and a year from free agency, they’d be getting paid like a top five to seven player in the league.

So here are the top five contracts in the league right now:

Back to the cap percentage idea. If the Avs sign Makar to a deal worth $17 million per season, that would actually be slightly less (15.04%) than MacKinnon’s contract in 2023-24 (15.09%).

What MacKinnon said 18 months ago isn’t wrong. Makar is worth $20 million per year. The best players in the world are all worth that much, but superstars have consistently taken less to help their teams have more cap space to build around them. Kirill Kaprizov pushed the bar higher, but Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel didn’t go with him.

Even if Makar and Hughes didn’t want to take a higher percentage than what Karlsson got eight years prior, 14.11% of a $113 million cap is still $15.944 million per season.

The other big question, of course, is the term of the contract. The new collective bargaining agreement will limit the maximum contract length in future summers to seven years. Makar and Hughes (and Lehkonen) have until Sept. 15 to ink an eight-year pact if they’d like.

Kaprizov and Eichel did eight-year deals, but McDavid signed for just two, and Auston Matthews only inked a four-year pact. Whether Makar and Hughes decide to go short and cash in again, or go long for what will likely be their last huge deal, it’s going to cost Colorado (and Minnesota, assuming Hughes does sign) an enormous sum of money.

An eight-year, $120 million contract would be a significant victory for either franchise, and either might have to settle for something similar to Kaprizov’s deal.

Artturi Lehkonen

Lehkonen has been an immensely valuable player when available who has been on an incredibly team-friendly contract for years.

But, like the recently departed Valeri Nichushkin, the phrase “when available” also plays into this, and could even more so in the future.

Here’s something that sums up the past few years for the Avs: Since 2015-16, there have been 33 wings who meet this criteria — 200-plus games played, 70-plus goals scored and 150-plus points during their age 27-30 seasons. For Lehkonen and Nichushkin, that four-year window is 2022-23 through this past season.

Nichushkin has the fewest games played of the bunch (222) and Lehkonen has the third-fewest (248). Both have been highly productive when available. Both have missed 25% or more of the regular-season games. Nichushkin missed games in three of the past four postseasons, while Lehkonen missed two games in the second round this year and looked compromised during the Western Conference Final.

Lehkonen’s full value isn’t captured by 85 goals and 178 points over the past four seasons. He’s an excellent two-year player, penalty killer and someone who produces more on a per-game basis during the playoffs than the regular season.

Finding comparable players for him isn’t easy. Are the guys who have similar total production? The players with similar per-game numbers?

Here are some wings that might fit:

The guys who have the most similar career production ahead of the new contract are Arvidsson, Tarasenko, Teravainen and Smith. Arvidsson and Tarasenko were already dealing with injuries and decline, and their contracts reflected that. It’s also worth noting that both of those guys had nice bounce-back seasons last year, at ages 32 and 34, respectively.

Rust has aged the best. Palat and Smith have aged the worst. Toffoli is a weird case because he had played for six teams by the time his current deal was signed. But he had two of his best seasons at ages 30-31 and then signed with San Jose, where he scored 49 goals in two years.

There are seven players on this list. Lehkonen is more valuable than some, for sure. He hasn’t had quite the career, from a pure production standpoint, as Rust or Toffoli, at least.

The average cap percentage for those seven contracts is 6.15%. That amount in 2027-28 would be about $6.95 million. Lehkonen, when he’s healthy, has played like a $7 million player or more.

Given the cap surge, is he a $7 million player right now? And what about in the future?

The term for Lehkonen’s next deal could be just as important as the average annual value. It’s a tricky one on both fronts.

There’s no denying his present value, and losing Nichushkin only amplifies it. But there is potential for variance in the future with any deal that starts at age 32, and there might even be more than usual with Lehkonen because of his playing style and injury history.