Salary Cap: Chris MacFarland - Record as Avalanche GM (Updates In First Post)

[expatriatedtexan]

Cale Makar will have a record breaking contract on his desk the second July 1st hits.

Hmm... So, 95.5M payroll, max a player can take is 20%... so call it 19M/year and we are good?

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

As bad as their drafting has been, they still hit enough on guys like Barron, Helleson, Ritchie, Annunen, Kovalenko, and Zellers to enable them to use them to trade for Lehkonen, Manson, Blackwood, Wedgewood, Nelson, and Coyle.

Looking at the names we traded away. I don't see problem with our system. It's pretty amazing really. We got for a lot of nothing amazing players. (Okay Ritchie will be fine NHLer, Kovalenko too)

 

[dahrougem2]

Hmm... So, 95.5M payroll, max a player can take is 20%... so call it 19M/year and we are good?

Payroll will be higher in 26-27

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Payroll will be higher in 26-27

Consider that his home-town discount?

 

[forsbergavs32]

TBH, I'm not sure I see Cale going for an insane amount on his next contract. Don't get me wrong, he will absolutely get paid well because of the cap increase but I think he values winning over money. My guess is he signs 8 year, somewhere around 13-13.5m

 

[RoyIsALegend]

TBH, I'm not sure I see Cale going for an insane amount on his next contract. Don't get me wrong, he will absolutely get paid well because of the cap increase but I think he values winning over money. My guess is he signs 8 year, somewhere around 13-13.5m

Hometown discount for Calgary?

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

TBH, I'm not sure I see Cale going for an insane amount on his next contract. Don't get me wrong, he will absolutely get paid well because of the cap increase but I think he values winning over money. My guess is he signs 8 year, somewhere around 13-13.5m

That's too little but of course that would be amazing.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

TBH, I'm not sure I see Cale going for an insane amount on his next contract. Don't get me wrong, he will absolutely get paid well because of the cap increase but I think he values winning over money. My guess is he signs 8 year, somewhere around 13-13.5m

I mean... if he feels that strongly about it, sure?!!

 

[Foppa2118]

$15M might be what we should hope for on the discount for the Avs on Cale.

His first year in 2027-28 will be under an $113.5M cap.

For reference, Nate's $15.09% of the cap on his new deal would be $17,127,150 under 27-28's cap.

 

[The Merchant]

Cale took a discount last time because he "believed in the program." If the team's outlook is just as good I wouldn't be surprised if he took another team-friendly deal. He's a gamer. He's no Mikko Rantanen.

That said, it's Cale f***ing Makar. You hand him a blank check and call it a day.

 

[Vaslof]

TBH, I'm not sure I see Cale going for an insane amount on his next contract. Don't get me wrong, he will absolutely get paid well because of the cap increase but I think he values winning over money. My guess is he signs 8 year, somewhere around 13-13.5m

McDavid will sign a new contract a year before Makar. I think that will be used as a comparison. He might get a bit over McDavid to make him the highest paid player kinda like MacKinnon. I think 18M will be the upper limit, but I would guess more like 15-16M for both.

 

[Ararana]

The problem with having the best player at a position is there will be heavy pressure from the NHLPA to reset the market for everyone else.

I wouldn't be expecting too much of a hand out from Cale Makar in '27. Maybe a million/year off the top, like MacKinnon, that's about it.

 

[SirLoinOfCloth]

Then in 29-30 #1 dman Darnell Nurse will reset the market for defensemen again so who gives a f*** what Makar gets in 27.

 

[Ararana]

Then in 29-30 #1 dman Darnell Nurse will reset the market for defensemen again so who gives a f*** what Makar gets in 27.

Edmonton always on standby for the comic relief

 

[Vaslof]

I'm just gonna call it now: the salary cap will stagnate due to lost revenue from a recession. I will refer back to this post in X years. Hi future me?

 

[Frenchy]

I'm just gonna call it now: the salary cap will stagnate due to lost revenue from a recession. I will refer back to this post in X years. Hi future me?

They've been talking about it up here in Canada. Teams in Canada could be in touble with what's going on right now and it could affect the cap.

 

[Alienblood]

I'm just gonna call it now: the salary cap will stagnate due to lost revenue from a recession. I will refer back to this post in X years. Hi future me?

This and with that being said a lot of teams aren't gonna spend to the max cap

 

[Foppa2118]

I'm just gonna call it now: the salary cap will stagnate due to lost revenue from a recession. I will refer back to this post in X years. Hi future me?

Very possible. They need to agree to a new CBA after next year too, even though Bettman said the cap is set through 27-28.

So there may be a new CBA in place during Cale's negotiations, and they've shown they like to reset salaries a bit sometimes with new CBA's.

Not sure if these things will benefit the Avs or hurt them though. They usually have bad luck with the timing of these things.

The original cap implentation causing them to lose Forsberg and Foote and later on Tanguay. The stagnate cap right when they win the Cup, possibly throwing off their original plans that might have included Naz and Byram. Now Cale's pending raise coming up.

 

[Bront]

5 got nuked signed 8 years

Post check

 

[a mangy Meowth]

The problem with having the best player at a position is there will be heavy pressure from the NHLPA to reset the market for everyone else.

I wouldn't be expecting too much of a hand out from Cale Makar in '27. Maybe a million/year off the top, like MacKinnon, that's about it.

 

[Perratrooper]

The biggest mistake MacFarland made was not getting rid of EJ’s contract after the cup. If he was able to get rid of that $6m we likely could have signed Kadri in addition to the other signings. It would have been tight, but I think feasible.

By not paying a first to get rid of EJ we have given up 2025 first (RyJo), Byram (Mittelstadt), Ritchie+2026 first (Nelson) and will still likely not have solved the issue going into next season.

 

[VikingAv]

The biggest mistake MacFarland made was not getting rid of EJ’s contract after the cup. If he was able to get rid of that $6m we likely could have signed Kadri in addition to the other signings. It would have been tight, but I think feasible.

By not paying a first to get rid of EJ we have given up 2025 first (RyJo), Byram (Mittelstadt), Ritchie+2026 first (Nelson) and will still likely not have solved the issue going into next season.

It's been very clear for a while now that they DID have a trade made to send EJ to Anaheim, but EJ dragged his feet on a decision.
That was also the reason Kadri went un-signed until mid-august (?!) that summer. He thought he would re-sign with the Avs.
Because EJ took so damn long, most rosters were set for the 22-23 season and the Avs were stuck without a 2C and did the media lip-service schtick with "Newhook 2C bla-bla-bla".

 

[TruePowerSlave]

The Avs could have kept Kadri even with EJ. Just cheap out on the depth and trade Compher, who walked one year later anyway.

Would have saved all the ridiculous missmanagement that followed with the quest for a #2C.

 

[Richard88]

The Avs could have kept Kadri even with EJ. Just cheap out on the depth and trade Compher, who walked one year later anyway.

Would have saved all the ridiculous missmanagement that followed with the quest for a #2C.

Compher's $3.5m would only have covered about half of Kadri's caphit ($6.5m-7m). So you'd have needed to trade someone else as well.

Not signing Rodrigues at $2m would save ~$1.2m (since his replacement would make ~$800k). And then there's another ~$2m to find from a roster that's already full of league minimum guys in the bottom 6. Swapping Francouz for a ~$1m backup would have saved $1m, but then you still need another $1m, and at that point you're looking at trading a Lehkonen/Girard/Manson OR running a 20 man roster. That doesn't seem feasible. EJ going was the only way it would work.

Landeskog - Mackinnon - Rantanen
Lehkonen - Kadri $6.5m - Nichushkin
O'Connor - Newhook - Rodrigues/$800k
Cogliano - Helm - Maltsev

Toews - Makar
Girard - Manson
Byram - EJ

Georgiev
Francouz

 

[TruePowerSlave]

Compher's $3.5m would only have covered about half of Kadri's caphit ($6.5m-7m). So you'd have needed to trade someone else as well.

So, where does one find another ~$3m?

Landeskog - Mackinnon - Rantanen
Lehkonen - Kadri $6.5m - Nichushkin
Newhook - ???? - O'Connor
Cogliano - Helm - ???

Toews - Makar
Girard - Manson
Byram - EJ

Georgiev
Francouz

Girard is the obvious pick for me. The most tradable big term ticket. Also keep Byram in this scenario and not give him away for essentially nothing.

Prioritize the key positions. The depth will take care of itself. CMac cheaped out on the #2C and paid the consequences. Tried to fix it later with RyJo/Mitts and had terrible results. Jury is still out on Nelson.