Joe Sakic sounds confident Avalanche will get Cale Makar extension done before 2026-27

The Colorado Avalanche’s long-term planning may hinge on one name: Cale Makar. In reporting published Monday, Joe Sakic suggested the team feels increasingly confident it will reach a long-term contract extension with the star defenseman before the 2026-27 season starts, and that there is not much internal concern about the situation.

Sakic’s comments land in a high-stakes window for NHL teams because elite players tied to the core are often the difference between “contender now” and “rebuild later” in the space of a single contract cycle. For Colorado, Makar is not just a top-of-the-roster talent, but a stabilizing presence on the blue line and a driver of how the Avalanche structure games, especially in transition and in defending the middle of the ice.

The report frames the atmosphere inside the organization as calm rather than stressed. That distinction matters because public posture can influence how negotiations are perceived across the league, and because the timeline of an extension can affect how a team approaches roster balancing. If Colorado believes an agreement is close, the Avalanche can plan around continuity rather than contingency for the coming season.

There is also a broader NHL context to any extension talk involving a player of Makar’s stature. Long-term deals are rarely simple, since they must align with salary-cap realities and future team construction, including how the club expects to distribute resources across defense, forward depth, and goaltending. When teams push for a long-term agreement, they are effectively making a multi-year bet on both performance and health, and on keeping the surrounding lineup capable of winning games in the postseason.

What is confirmed in the reporting is the direction of the conversation and the target timeframe, not the fine details. The report indicates Sakic expects progress toward a long-term extension before 2026-27 begins, and that the organization does not appear to be acting from a place of panic. It also frames this as an ongoing process rather than an already-completed transaction.

For Colorado fans, the next thing to watch is how quickly the negotiation winds down and whether the organization’s confidence translates into an announcement well in advance of the 2026-27 start. If an extension is finalized on schedule, it would lock in a central piece of the Avalanche’s identity going forward and reduce uncertainty for the entire roster. If negotiations linger, the story could shift from “calm confidence” to “cap-timing and leverage,” which is where most contract seasons in the NHL become especially tense.