Cale Makar and the Colorado Avalanche might be feeling the ripple effects of a contract that had nothing to do with either of them.
Here's what actually happened: Flyers GM Daniel Briere didn't sign Leo Carlsson at all. He made a massive offer sheet, and Anaheim matched it to keep him.
That's the part that matters. Briere never landed the player, but he still reset what elite talent costs across the entire league.
The logic fans are running with now is simple. If a young center's camp can command $18,000,000 annually, an elite defenseman becomes a real candidate for even more.
Makar, specifically, is the name people keep circling as a candidate to push past $20,000,000 on his own next deal.
Makar currently carries a $9,000,000 cap hit, coming off a 79-point season, 20 goals and 59 assists in 75 games.
Colorado finished with the league's best record at 55-16-11, and Makar added 5 more points in 11 playoff games during that run. He's already considered the best defenseman alive by most measures.
Why rival GMs are stuck paying for a move that cost Briere nothing
Anaheim matching the offer sheet meant Philadelphia never had to surrender the draft pick compensation that normally comes with an unmatched offer.
Briere blew up the market for every negotiation in the league and it didn't cost his own team a single asset.
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That's exactly why other general managers reportedly aren't thrilled. Every star's camp now points straight at Carlsson's number, and Briere never even had to pay for it.
Makar isn't a free agent this instant, but his eventual extension talks get measured against that $18,000,000 bar whether Colorado likes it or not.
Is $20,000,000 actually reasonable for a defenseman producing at Makar's level on a championship roster? On pure output, it's hard to argue against.
The real question is whether the salary cap grows fast enough to absorb numbers like that without forcing rosters into brutal cuts elsewhere.
The price tag on elite talent just moved, and Briere didn't even have to spend a dollar of his own to move it.
Should the NHL crack down on aggressive offer sheets like Briere's?
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