The Minnesota Wild have faced plenty of challenges battling in the Central Division, but few have been as big of a pain as Cale Makar. The Colorado Avalanche star defenseman has six goals and 26 points in 29 career games against the Wild and just helped Colorado dispatch Minnesota during last year’s playoffs, igniting what could be a string of changes this offseason.
But just as the Wild thought they didn’t have to deal with Makar until they see him on the ice next season, their rival appears to have inserted himself as a factor in Quinn Hughes’s contract negotiations.
According to The Athletic’s Michael Russo, Hughes and Makar are two names that will set the market for defensemen if they agree to contract extensions this summer. While Russo reports that general manager Bill Guerin has not “gotten down to the nitty gritty” with Hughes’s agent Pat Brisson, he also noted that Makar’s contract could cause a staring contest between the two stars as they look for a data point in their negotiations.
“Fresh off signing Kaprizov to a $17 million annual average value that set a new bar for forward contracts, the Wild find themselves navigating a blue-line market that Hughes is poised to redefine,” Russo wrote. “So is Cale Makar, who is also extension-eligible this summer. Whichever superstar signs first could establish the benchmark for the other, creating a high-stakes waiting game between two camps.”
Quinn Hughes’s future with Wild still has plenty of moving parts
Russo went on to note that Kaprizov’s contract became a “first domino” for contract extensions involving Jack Eichel, Kyle Connor, Adrian Kempe and Martin Necas last offseason. Hughes and Makar could be following that trend as each looks to set the market for defensemen this year.
According to Puckpedia, Hughes is scheduled to make $7.85 million in the final year of his contract but could command somewhere around $15 million according to The Athletic’s Frank Seravalli. That deal would easily make Hughes the NHL’s highest-paid defenseman and would be worth every penny to the Wild, who watched the 26-year-old transform them into a Stanley Cup contender last season.
The issue here is that Makar has just as strong of an argument to get paid. While Hughes won the Norris Trophy as the league’s top defenseman for the 2023-24 season, Makar has won it twice while also bringing a Stanley Cup to Colorado. Makar’s next contract also feels like a certainty with president and Joe Sakic declaring Makar’s contract is the Avs’s top priority and Makar “is going to finish his career” in Colorado.
While Bill Guerin declared Hughes’s contract as a top priority at his end of season press conference, he still has plenty of other things to figure out. The Wild need to add a top-line center and fill as many as three holes in their top six with Marcus Johansson leaving for Sweden and Vladimir Tarasenko and Mats Zuccarello headed toward free agency.
Minnesota could also reshape its blue line behind Hughes and Brock Faber, leaving a question of how much they can offer despite having a projected $45.1 million in cap space when Hughes’s extension would begin in the 2027-28 season.
In the end, Hughes could opt to a short-term deal that makes Makar the league’s highest-paid defenseman. But he has no need to rush considering he’s under contract for next season. That could create a need for patience from Wild fans and their front office in the event that Hughes doesn’t sign when he becomes eligible next week and could have Makar becoming an unlikely pain in their offseason plans.
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