Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar enter the final season of their six-year contracts, drawing intense attention across the NHL. Hughes is scheduled to make $7.85 million this season and Makar $9 million, with Hughes coming off a 2024 Norris Trophy and a December trade to the Minnesota Wild that helped turn them into a Stanley Cup contender, and Makar a two-time Norris winner who led the Colorado Avalanche to the 2022 championship, according to ESPN.
Agents and executives expect the pair to command significant raises. One agent told ESPN the prevailing range being discussed is $15 million to $20 million per year, depending on term, adding that talks are beginning to mirror NBA comparables. “As an agent, I love it, but I know when you’re trying to build a team, it’s a bit more complicated,” the agent said to ESPN.
If either player were to reach $20 million annually, that would become the highest average annual value in the NHL but would be modest compared with other leagues; ESPN noted such a figure would rank 72nd in the NFL, tied for 75th in Major League Baseball and 95th in the NBA. The outcome for Makar and Hughes could reset the top of the market for defensemen and influence expectations for blueliners at multiple talent levels, according to ESPN.
Big-money defenseman deals have been building for years. Drew Doughty and Erik Karlsson signed long-term contracts that began in 2019-20 — a season interrupted by the COVID-19 pause that led to a flat salary cap — and the rush continued with Makar and Hughes signing in 2021. Rasmus Dahlin reached eight figures in 2023 with an $11 million AAV in Buffalo, and by 2025 Thomas Harley (eight years, $10.587 million AAV) and Evan Bouchard (four years, $10.5 million AAV) had joined the eight-figure group, ESPN reports.
Rising cap space has been a key catalyst. The salary cap was $81.5 million in 2021-22 and is projected to be $104 million for 2026-27. “With the new change in the cap system, the cap hits have gone up,” another agent told ESPN, saying the NHL and NHLPA removed much of the previous slack after the COVID-era suppression of growth. That environment helped produce this offseason’s high-profile deal for Bowen Byram, who was traded June 23 from Buffalo to Chicago while under a two-year, $6.25 million-per-year bridge and was then signed by the Blackhawks to a six-year deal worth $12.5 million annually starting in 2027-28, making him the NHL’s highest-paid defenseman, according to ESPN. ESPN interviewed four agents on background for the story.
