Currently, the Colorado Avalanche stand at $78.59 million. While it's true MacKinnon's new contract won't take effect until the 2023-24 season, Colorado still have to contend with the likelihood that the cap won't go up much more than $1 million.
The Avs will have defenceman Erik Johnson's $6 million cap hit coming off the books after this season. Besides MacKinnon, only two other players Bowen Byram and Alex Newhook are expected to command a large raise.
A young MacKinnon at the tender age of 20 didn't take the traditional bridge contract that many good, young players go for. MacKinnon chose instead to sign a seven year contract. He also openly offered a hometown discount. He's been making $6.3 million a year. Sure, maybe when he was 20, 21 and still proving himself that was ok. However, he's been the team star for at least five of those years. And that's a heck of a team-friendly contract.
