Macklin Celebrini’s new price tag gets quickly eclipsed by Cale Makar, shifting the NHL’s top-end pay map

The San Jose Sharks’ long-term investment in Macklin Celebrini arrived with the league watching how high the market would climb for young center talent. But it did not take long for the headline to change. Roughly a month after Celebrini signed his massive contract extension, Colorado Avalanche captain Cale Makar took over the NHL’s highest-paid spot, and the move did more than rewrite a leaderboard. It shifted the broader conversation around how teams value impact defensemen at the very top end of the salary structure.

Celebrini, a forward for the Sharks, had been positioned as the standard-bearer for elite pay following his extension. Instead, Makar’s new status effectively moved the reference point. According to Yahoo Sports, Makar became the first player in the NHL to surpass the $20 million threshold, a milestone that matters because it sets a higher bar for future contract negotiations across the league, not just for one team.

This is the kind of development that can ripple through team-building decisions. When the highest annual salary moves upward in a league with limited cap room, it can affect how franchises evaluate risk and duration, especially for players who combine durability, two-way impact, and game-driving minutes. The Avalanche’s position is also telling, because Makar is not simply a star in the scoring column. His reputation is built on playmaking from the defense, control at even strength, and the ability to tilt games through high-leverage stretches.

For San Jose, the story is different even if the outcome is the same in terms of league-wide optics. Celebrini’s extension indicated confidence in the long-term core. Yet the fact that he was “no longer set” to remain the league’s top earner so quickly underscores how fast the NHL’s contract landscape has moved. It also highlights how a single blockbuster for a player of Makar’s profile can quickly accelerate expectations for every front office watching the market.

Contract milestones can also change how fans interpret what “market value” means in the current NHL economy. A new ceiling figure, like the $20 million figure cited in Yahoo’s account, tends to normalize higher salary expectations and can make it harder for teams to retain or acquire comparable impact players without matching that higher standard. That does not guarantee immediate contract chaos, but it does raise the pressure on general managers when negotiations enter the final months.

Looking ahead, the practical question for the teams involved is less about who is highest-paid and more about what happens on the ice with that money attached. Makar’s role with Colorado and Celebrini’s role with San Jose remain the core storyline, with the salary headlines acting as context for how much each franchise has committed to building around its key players. The next contracts signed in the same tier will be the real test of how enduring this shift will prove.