The Cale Makar contract extension has one direct beneficiary: Cale Makar. If the Colorado Avalanche win another Stanley Cup or multiple Cups, the Avalanche will become beneficiaries as well. But there’s one interesting indirect beneficiary of the Makar extension: Quinn Hughes.
And if the New Jersey Devils are serious about landing the elite defenseman, it will cost them a pretty penny.
No, we’re not talking about the acquisition cost in a potential trade with the Minnesota Wild. Even assuming that the Wild hold on to Hughes and he then bolts in free agency, the Devils will have to shell out Makar-like money to sign the third Hughes brother.
Let’s really drill down on this point. If you were Quinn Hughes, would you accept less than Cale Makar? In fact, Makar just handed Hughes’ camp the most powerful bit of leverage of all. If I were Quinn Hughes, I’d be sending a gift basket to Makar and his agents.
The big question would be: How much would it cost the Devils to sign Hughes for the long haul?
The short answer is that it would cost about $20.5 million against the cap. Since Makar got $20.4 million, it wouldn’t be ludicrous to think that Hughes wouldn't want to top that number, even if it were by a few thousand.
Signing Quinn Hughes would be easier than trading for him
Devils fans have to wonder what it would take to land Quinn Hughes in New Jersey. While a trade would certainly be a possibility, the bottom line is that such a route would not be the likeliest.
The sticker price that the Wild would put on Hughes would be outrageous. And it would instantly turn off the vast majority of teams in the league.
Unless Hughes twisted the Wild’s arm to trade him to New Jersey, the Devils’ best bet would be to sign him as a free agent. And unless the Wild could convince Hughes to re-sign, it would be the Devils’ race to lose.
New Jersey has a unique advantage in signing Quinn Hughes in free agency. That advantage won’t lead to a hometown discount. But it would make Sunny Mehta’s pitch easier. All he would have to do is hit Hughes’ number, and the rest would fall into place.
Ultimately, Cale Makar put the Devils in a bit of a bind if they were serious about landing Quinn Hughes at one point or another. But the silver lining is that now anyone wanting to court Hughes has a very good idea of how much it would take to sign him.
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