There were no tells at the table when Nathan MacKinnon sat down with reporters for the NHL Media Tour Thursday, no swelling wasteline or anything to suggest the famously, fanatically dedicated superstar took any time off to soak in his first Stanley Cup win this summer.

Quite the contrary, MacKinnon said: the short offseason was actually to his liking. It got him back onto the ice quicker than normal, and it was almost like he never lost his legs. Back to the grind for him and the Colorado Avalanche. He doesn’t view his team as the hunted in 2022-23. As far as he’s concerned, the Avs remain the hunters, still the best team in the NHL.

But how long will they remain the best team in the NHL? It’s largely a matter of keeping their core of stars together. Captain Gabriel Landeskog signed his eight-year, $56 million extension last summer, as did superstar blueliner Cale Makar on a six-year deal at a $9 million AAV and top-line right winger Mikko Rantanen a couple years prior. He’s halfway through a six-year pact at a $9.25 million cap hit.

But the gargantuan question looming over the Avs this offseason? When does MacKinnon sign his extension? He’s been eligible since free agency began this past July and enters the final year of his deal.

The next MacKinnon pact is the NHL’s most anticipated in recent memory for two reasons. For one: he’s widely been considered the most underpaid player in hockey for most of his current deal, which carries a $6.3 million AAV. Over the course of it, he’s been a Hart Trophy finalist three times, won a Stanley Cup and averaged well north of a point per game. So, yes, underpaid is an understatement.