Avs' Nathan MacKinnon Open to Another Discount Contract

The news every single general manager loves to hear, a team's best player is open to taking less money to keep the roster in tact. Nathan MacKinnon can never be questioned about being a team guy after he recently admitted he's willing to take less on his next contract so the Colorado Avalanche can continue to shine.

The 25-year-old has two seasons left on his current deal, paying him $6.3 million. Pretty crazy to think he makes basically half of what Connor McDavid makes. The Avalanche got themselves a steal of a deal when they signed him for seven years back in 2016 and it's allowed for Joe Sakic to be able to add some serious talent around him and maintain flexibility for the future.

Sakic will have his work cut out for him this summer as captain Gabriel Landeskog is up for renewal and will have some teams on the open market will to overpay. The Avs project to have just under $20 million in cap space next season via Cap Friendly, and have the likes of Landeskog, Philipp Grubauer, and Brandon Saad on their priority list of internal free agents.

We saw last summer when Mikko Rantanen signed his extension, not everyone thinks like MacKinnon. Rantanen signed for $9.25 million per season and it's likely Landeskog will come in under this number. If the Avalanche can keep this core together, expect a parade at some point in Mile High.