DENVER, Aug. 29 -- No one had paid a defenseman $20 million a year to play hockey. Then the Colorado Avalanche decided Cale Makar was the player worth doing it for the first time.

Colorado signed Makar to an eight-year, $163.2 million extension on Friday, carrying a $20.4 million average annual value that exceeds any contract in NHL history at any position. The deal runs through the 2034-35 season and takes effect in 2027-28, when his current six-year contract, signed in 2021 at a $9 million annual hit, expires.

The timing was deliberate. A new collective bargaining agreement takes effect September 15 that caps player contracts at a maximum of seven years. Makar's extension runs eight. Colorado got the deal signed with three weeks to sp...