From Orr to Makar — a sign of the times
Denny Dressman writes that when Cale Makar’s extension takes effect for 2027-28, he will become the NHL’s first-ever $20-million player.
Denny Dressman ·
If we were talking about a player in any other major American professional sport, it would hardly be worth a mention these days.
Ninety-four in the National Basketball Association will make $20 million or more this season; more than 70 are now in Major League Baseball; and between 60 and 70 will in pro football.
But when the eight-year extension he signed late last week takes effect for the 2027-28 season, Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche will become the National Hockey League’s first-ever $20-million player.
By pro athlete standards, he’s worth it.
At 27 he’s already being compared to Bobby Orr, acknowledged to be the NHL’s greatest defenseman in its 108-year history.
In his first seven years as a pro, Makar has won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s most proficient rookie in the 2019-20 season, the Norris Trophy twice (’22 and ’25) as the league’s best defenseman, and a Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs, which the Avs won that season.
“Cale is a generational defenseman,” said Avalanche president Joe Sakic, a Hall of Famer himself, who called Makar “obviously a tremendous competitor and player. But even more so, a great person, teammate and ambassador.”
Makar was drafted fourth overall by the Avs in 2017 as an 18-year-old, and that in itself is a story.
In the 2016-17 season, Colorado managed only 48 points, based on a final record of 22-56-4. As such, the Avalanche had the best odds of all teams in the 2017 draft lottery when the picking order was determined that April.
Luck of the draw did not reward Colorado with first pick, however. New Jersey, which finished 22 points better than the Avs while finishing last in the Eastern Conference’s Metropolitan Division, moved up four spots to earn the first selection. The Philadelphia Flyers and Dallas Stars moved up from the thirteenth and eighth spots, respectively, to select second and third.
In the process, Colorado, the Vancouver Canucks, Vegas Golden Knights and Arizona Coyotes were each knocked down three places from first, second, third and fourth overall.
On draft day, Jersey, Philly and Dallas all passed on Makar, instead choosing centers Nico Hischier from Switzerland and Nolan Patrick from Canada and Finnish defenseman Miro Heiskanen. Hischier and Heiskanen have proven to be mainstays; Patrick’s career was cut short by injuries.
None, though, is Makar’s equal.
Even as he prepared to enter his freshman season as the University of Massachusetts, he was considered a top pro prospect. The then-lowly Avalanche gambled the fourth pick on him but had to wait two seasons before the young Canadian entered the NHL.
During that time, Makar helped transform UMass from also-ran to Frozen Four runner-up, losing the collegiate championship to Minnesota-Duluth 3-0 the night after he was named winner of the Hobey Baker Award as the college player of the year.
The equivalent of college football’s Heisman Trophy, the Hobey Baker’s criteria includes character, skills and teamwork, academics and sportsmanship, as well as on-ice performance.
He joined Colorado immediately after his last college game and scored his first NHL goal on his first shot attempt—in the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs. Last spring he was a Norris Trophy finalist for the sixth straight season.
The only defenseman to ever lead the NHL in scoring, Orr (who did it twice) was the first NHL player to get a million-dollar contract. He won eight straight Norris Trophies; was a three-time league MVP; and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame when he was only 31, at that time the Hall’s youngest inductee.
Makar, the first player since Orr to be nominated for the Norris Trophy six of his first seven seasons, scored 20 goals for the third straight season in ’25-’26— the first defenseman to do that in more than 30 years.
Makar’s record payday surely will be surpassed by the deals to be signed by several other NHL stars in years to come, likely including teammate Nathan MacKinnon.
But there’s only one “first.”
It’s a far cry from Orr’s top salary.
That was $600K at the end of an injury-shortened career, when he signed a five-year, $3-million contract with the Chicago Blackhawks as a free agent. (He retired after three seasons).
At the peak of Orr’s decade in Boston, the Average Annual Value (AAV) of his best deal was $200K.
Denny Dressman writes a weekly sports column for The Villager. You can write to Denny at dennydressman@comcast.net.
Print source: The Villager, Vol. 44 No. 41, Sept. 3, 2026, page 12. There is no Sports slug in NEWS_SECTIONS; this draft uses local-news. The print headline is “From Orr to Makar —a sign of the times.”