What happened? Why did one core excel where the others are flailing?
The Avs got MacKinnon to sign his current contract coming off his ELC of 63, 38, and 52 points. When his contract began in '16-'17, he still didn't break out as he put up only 53 points. It wasn't until the 2nd year of his current contract, and 5th season that he broke out offensively with 97 points.
Landeskog signed his current contract that started in the '14-'15 season, after his ELC produced seasons of 52, 17, and 65 points. It wasn't until year 5 of his contract where he put up a PPG season.
At the time they signed the contracts, you could argue that they were overpaid a little bit based on their production and because they outproduced those contracts, they became viewed as "steals" and "value contracts" and because of that, they were able to go out and fill out the roster.
Now they've got MacKinnon to re-sign in 2 years and he'll be making a MINIMUM of $10 million per year. Makar is due this off-season, and if he signs for say 8 years, that's minimum $8 million per year. Landeskog as well, he'll get a raise most likely, prolly around $6.5 million per year. Take the $14.5 million for Landy and Makar, and the Avs are left with roughly $5 million to re-sign Grubauer, and find replacements for Saad and some bottom-6 forwards and depth dmen.
And let's not forget, that it's taken the Avs 10 years to get here, from when they drafted Landeskog in 2011 and Mackinnon in 2013. They had dark times along the way, namely the '16-'17 season
The Avs are gonna be tested here in the next few years with their contracts.