from Mike Chambers of the Denver Post,

Name the NHL’s five-best players and Nathan MacKinnon, based on — if nothing else — what he accomplished last season, makes the list. The electrifying Avalanche center had a 39-goal, 97-point season and finished second in Hart Trophy voting as the league’s MVP.

Name the NHL’s most underpaid superstars and MacKinnon, 23, is again among the top five. He has the 61st-highest cap hit in the league ($6.3 million), which means he is grossly underpaid based on market value.

MacKinnon will have the same cap hit — a player’s annual average based on lump sum and years — for this season and the next four, through 2022-23, which is a great deal for the Avs. In July 2016, he signed a seven-year contract worth $44.1 million. He made $5.75 million last season and will make $6.75 million this winter. He was thrilled at the time he signed the contract, and based on his poor 2016-17 season (16 goals and 53 points) he had no room to complain.

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