July 1 in the NHL is mostly about unrestricted free agents hitting the open market. But it’s also the first day that players with one year left on their contracts can extend.The first name that jumps off the page as far as players in that situation is the top defenseman in the world, Cale Makar.He’s entering the final season of a six-year, $54-million contract with the Colorado Avalanche that he signed in July 2021. That $9 million AAV felt like a bargain about 30 seconds after it was signed. The question is, what does that next deal look like?Would anyone blink if Makar asked for $20 million a year? I mean, he’s 27, he’s a top-five player in the world, regardless of position, and the salary cap landscape is exploding in the year he’s up.No disrespect to Pavel Dorofeyev, a fine goal-scorer, but if he’s worth $11 million a year now, what’s the No. 1 defenseman in the world worth?Winners and losers from the 2026 NHL DraftScott WheelerThe max a player can sign for under the new $104 million salary cap for 2026-27 is $20.8 million. That jumps to $22.7 million in July 2027 under the $113.5 million salary cap. That’s the summer when Makar is UFA.I get that Makar would never ask for the max in that Avalanche cap culture, with a tone set by Nathan MacKinnon, who has never fully flexed financially. Mind you, when he signed his last deal in September 2022 he became the highest-paid player in the NHL at $12.6 million per year. Leon Draisaitl ($14 million) and Auston Matthews ($13.25 million), eventually passed him, as will Jack Eichel ($13.5 million) and Kirill Kaprizov ($17 million) in 2026-27. In my books, MacKinnon should be making more than that group of superstars.In a vacuum, very few people would take issue if Makar did ask for $20 million. No offense to Kaprizov, but how many more millions is Makar worth than Kaprizov? I don’t think there’s a world in which Makar and his reps, brothers Brian and Scott Bartlett, will ask for less than Kaprizov.The balance will be to find something that works and still allows Colorado to keep the depth to contend. The Avs are loaded up to win now.There’s a reason the best player in the world, Connor McDavid, signed for $12.5 million instead of the $20 million he should be making. Those $8 million in savings under the helped the Oilers re-sign Jason Dickinson and Connor Murphy.So, no, Makar probably won’t be asking for $20 million a year. Somewhere between $17 million and $18 million is maybe the sweet spot, depending on term.Either way, we shouldn’t expect a Makar extension on Wednesday, according to league sources, granted anonymity to address negotiations that aren’t public. There really hasn’t been much work done on it yet. But both sides intend to get to it sometime this summer, to be sure.The latest on other stars who can extend as of Wednesday:Quinn Hughes, Minnesota WildDespite the enormity of this file for the Wild, there actually haven’t been a whole lot of talks so far on this extension. So I doubt we’ll see something on Wednesday. But obviously that negotiation is coming soon.Wild owner Craig Leipold on radio last week all but guaranteed an extension with Hughes will get done. Colleagues Joe Smith and Shayna Goldman on Monday looked at what a Hughes extension could look like. A three-year extension to match the expiry of his brother Jack’s deal with the New Jersey Devils is what everyone is expecting. The question is, what’s the AAV for that three-year deal? $15 million? $16 million? $18 million? We shall see.Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay LightningEveryone involved in this one has been incredibly tight-lipped. His agent, Dan Milstein, warned me two months ago that he would not be speaking to the media about it. He reiterated Sunday: “I am staying completely off the air with anything Kucherov related.”I tried a Lightning source and got shut down as well. Are we getting a Kucherov extension sometime before the end of the week? It’s anyone’s guess, but it wouldn’t surprise me. Victor Hedman’s last extension two years ago was announced on July 2.Nico Hischier, New Jersey DevilsThe Devils captain is likely to extend with the team as early as Wednesday. Negotiations have been taking place for the past month.Ivan Demidov, Montreal CanadiensThe Canadiens have done work on an extension with his agent, but I don’t know if they’re close enough yet to have it done by Wednesday.Macklin Celebrini, San Jose SharksMy understanding is that there’s been very little in terms of talks on this front yet. Zero hurry. He doesn’t need his next deal for another year. It doesn’t mean they can’t get going on it this summer, of course, but they haven’t yet, really. And it probably makes sense to let Connor Bedard go first anyway and react to that.Carlson-Hurricanes negotiationsJohn Carlson’s rights getting traded to the Carolina Hurricanes over the weekend was a clever move by the Cup champs to beat everyone to the market on the pending UFA defenseman, who is 36 but still a very good player and one that’s in high demand. But there was nothing guaranteed as far as the Canes being able to sign him.The entry point asking price from Carlson’s camp is two years and $10 million per season. I suppose one way to bring that AAV down is to tack on more years, get creative in that sense. So a longer-term deal still could get Carlson $20 million in the first two years, with subsequent years on a lower salary bringing down the cap hit.There are certainly different ways to go about it. We’ll see if Carolina can lock him up or if he goes to market, where teams like the Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins and Lightning will get a crack at him.Trouba likely heading to marketThe Carlson situation directly affects pending UFA Jacob Trouba. Not that they’re similar players, but they’re both pending UFA, top-four, right-shot defensemen, and there’s few of those to go around.The door isn’t completely closed on Trouba returning to the Anaheim Ducks, but it’s very likely Trouba, 32, is headed to market. Term has been a major issue in talks with the Ducks. The team wants to go shorter-term. Trouba, who has never been a UFA, is looking for more term.Anyway, it’ll be musical chairs for Trouba as he sees where Carlson ends up and then tries to grab one of the open chairs.Jenner talks still aliveBoone Jenner as of Monday seemed most likely headed to market. But talks are not dead yet with the Columbus Blue Jackets, and history tells us that Jackets GM Don Waddell will probably throw an 11th-hour offer at the Jackets captain, who turned 33 two weeks ago, over the next day or so.Term has been an issue so far in talks. Jenner does have an injury history, but he’s a respected player and leader. I wonder about the Avalanche as a potential landing spot if he hits the market.Quick hits• Darnell Nurse and Morgan Rielly are out there, too — both on the trade market, both top-four defensemen. Nurse gave the Edmonton Oilers a three-team list to work with (Pittsburgh Penguins, Flyers and Bruins). I think the Oilers may need that list to expand at some point.• I like Montreal as a fit for Mason Marchment if he hits the market. He would slide in nicely on that second line for the Canadiens. The Toronto Maple Leafs are lurking, too. There’s interest from several teams, as one would imagine in a thin UFA market. Columbus hasn’t given up on re-signing him, either.• I wondered where the Bruins’ acquisition of JJ Peterka left pending UFA winger Viktor Arvidsson. The door isn’t totally closed. GM Don Sweeney has kept the dialogue open with Arvidsson’s rep, Kurt Overhardt. Arvidsson seemed reborn last season, putting up a 25-goal campaign.• Corey Perry, 41, had 17 goals last season between the Los Angeles Kings and the Lightning. He definitely wants to play next season. I think L.A. is among the options. He won’t be returning to Tampa Bay.• David Perron, 38, intends to play again next season. Perron, who had 13 goals between the Ottawa Senators and the Detroit Red Wings last season, is still talking to the Red Wings, but if something can’t be worked out there, then he’s looking to hit the open market.• And finally, let’s talk about pending UFA Rasmus Andersson. When the Vegas Golden Knights traded for Andersson back on Jan. 18, the assumption was that it wouldn’t be that long before he was signed to an extension, kind of like when the Knights traded for Noah Hanifin two years ago. But that never happened during the season. Vegas couldn’t actually extend him at the moment as per CBA rules. My understanding of the situation is that, as of mid-March, they had only $3.2 million in projected cap space for next season, which includes Alex Pietrangelo’s $8.8 million cap hit. It’s the old “tagging rule” from previous CBAs.As of Wednesday, with the new League Year beginning July 1, Vegas will be able to sign Andersson. I’d be surprised if they didn’t keep Andersson around. The point of that trade wasn’t to have him as a rental.