Toews has played more minutes for us over the past 3 seasons than anyone. Every year he is 2nd to the goalie; with the exception of the 1 year that Makar was fully healthy he barely edged him out.

He skates 40% of our ice time and will cost on average about 7% of the cap over this extension. He makes Makar better and vice-versa.

I think the MacKenzie Weegar comp is pretty appropriate, not-quite Jaccob Slavin but not far off, a step above (and 5 years older than) Mikey Anderson (LAK). He's healthier and younger than Alec Martinez (VGK) and more offensively gifted than Mattias Ekholm; but all of those guys are comparable in the impact that they make those around them better; which is not easy for every NHLer to do consistently (see Erik Karlsson, Darnell Nurse, Zach Werenski, Morgan Rielly and Seth Jones). This is still a team game and finding chemistry for 25 minutes is invaluable; top pair #2 defenders (who don't get all the points) should be just as valuable in the league as a top line scoring winger.

What this deal really sends a signal to, for me, is that the Avs don't see Bo Byram making that last leap into that tier of player, at least due to health or even possibly his consistentcy. He could be a great 2nd pair matchup nightmare and get #2 powerplay time, but he won't be given the top pairing opportunity anytime in the next 8 years barring injury to Toews. They are putting him and Girard together this year which could be a really good alignment for the Avs long-term; but will cap Bo in the $5-6 million range on his next deal in 2025-26. If it doesn't work out then it's possible that Byram is the one on the trading block by then since he would get the highest return (and biggest demand on the market) and also the one that the Avs could not afford to re-sign if he exceeds that role.

Such a good deal

He took a discount. Avs fans should be very happy.

Great comparable is Hampus Lindholm. Same age as Toews and after the 23-24 season will be under contract for 7 more years, making 6.5M per with a comparable skill set/effectiveness level.

This seems to me an obvious case of a player getting more term than he should be getting at his age in return for a lower AAV than he deserves. A good tactic for a team in win-now mode to minimize their short-term cap hit, and for a player who wants to stay where he is as long as possible even if the team doesn’t remain a contender the whole time. Fair deal.

Bro's one of the best defenseman in the league and took like a 7 million dollar discount (when you think about it in total $)