The New Jersey Devils may be impacted by the contract that Cale Makar signed with the Colorado Avalanche one day.
It was believed by many that Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche and Quinn Hughes of the Minnesota Wild were waiting each other out before signing new contracts. On Friday, the first domino fell, as Cale Makar extended with the Colorado Avalanche.
Makar’s extension will carry a cap hit of $20.4 million over 8 years. He still has the 2026-27 season to play on his old contract, which has an AAV of $9 million. For a player of his caliber, that’s a bargain for one more year, but he has a total of $163.2 million coming his way after that over the following 8 years.
This now sets the market for Quinn Hughes, who is the only defenseman worth comparing to Makar. He has the 2026-27 season locked down at $7.85 million, which is even more of a bargain. His extension will be similar to Makar’s.
The question for Hughes now is which team he will be with. Does he sign with the Minnesota Wild and stick with the organization that gave up a lot to get him? Or does he come to play with his brothers on the New Jersey Devils?
New Jersey has the cap space cleared for Quinn Hughes in 2026-27, and there are contracts coming off the books ahead of any potential extensions beyond the upcoming season.
If the Devils did acquire Quinn, they'd have to work on his next deal before the following season, but there would be no true worry that he is leaving the team that Jack and Luke play for.
The Wild are already paying Kirill Kaprzov a lucrative amount of money, as his cap hit is $17 million. Getting this exact Makar-type deal done with Quinn would lock in two players at $37 million, and neither of them solves the lack of center depth within the organization. It would be a bold move that the Devils are hoping the Wild don't want to make.
There were theories that Makar's deal would impact the decision of Quinn Hughes, and now that piece of business is done. If he isn't signed by training camp, it will be clear that there is more to it than that. This would be where the Devils can get involved.
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