It pays to be an elite hockey player.
With the NHL salary cap at an all-time high, top players are making more money than ever before.
In 2018-19, the 10-highest paid players will earn $126.9 million cumulatively – an 8% increase from the $117.5 million that the top-10 took home in the season prior.
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Much of that increase will come from this year’s top three, as John Tavares, Carey Price and Connor McDavid all see lucrative deals kick in for the upcoming season.
Below is a list of the players who will make more than $8 million this year:
Player | Salary | Position | Team |
1. John Tavares | $15.9 million | C | TOR |
2. Carey Price | $15 million | G | MTL |
3. Connor McDavid | $15 million | C | EDM |
4. Jamie Benn | $13 million | LW | DAL |
5. Anze Kopitar | $12 million | C | LAK |
6. Patrick Kane | $12 million | RW | CHI |
7. Jonathan Toews | $12 million | C | CHI |
8. John Carlson | $12 million | D | WSH |
9. Sidney Crosby | $10 million | C | PIT |
10. Alex Ovechkin | $10 million | LW | WSH |
11. Evgeny Kuznetsov | $10 million | C | WSH |
12. Brent Burns | $10 million | D | SJS |
13. P.K. Subban | $10 million | D | NSH |
14. Jack Eichel | $10 million | C | BUF |
15. Evgeni Malkin | $9.5 million | C | PIT |
16. Steven Stamkos | $9.5 million | C | TBL |
17. Jakub Voracek | $9.25 million | RW | PHI |
18. Corey Perry | $9 million | RW | ANA |
19. Leon Draisaitl | $9 million | C | EDM |
20. Claude Giroux | $9 million | C | PHI |
21. Evander Kane | $9 million | LW | SJS |
22. Zach Parise | $9 million | LW | MIN |
23. Ryan Suter | $9 million | D | MIN |
24. Brent Seabrook | $9 million | D | CHI |
25. Ryan Getzlaf | $8.95 million | C | ANA |
26. Ilya Kovalchuk | $8.5 million | RW | LAK |
27. Ryan O’Reilly | $8.5 million | C | STL |
28. James van Riemsdyk | $8 million | LW | PHI |
29. Dustin Byfuglien | $8 million | D | WPG |
30. Victor Hedman | $8 million | D | TBL |
31. Ryan Johansen | $8 million | C | NSH |
32. Kevin Shattenkirk | $8 million | D | NYR |
33. Brad Marchand | $8 million | LW | BOS |
34. David Pastrnak | $8 million | RW | BOS |
35. Alexander Radulov | $8 million | RW | DAL |
Dallas Stars centre Tyler Seguin will join this list next season, as he signed an eight-year contract extension that carries a $9.85 million cap hit kicking in a year from now.
Annual salaries typically fluctuate year-over-year, while a player’s cap hit is based on the annual average value of a contract.
So while Tavares leads the way in total salary, his cap hit is lower than McDavid’s.
Here are the players that carry a cap hit in the same $8 million+ range:
Player | Cap Hit | Position | Team |
1. Connor McDavid | $12,500,000 | C | EDM |
2. John Tavares | $11,000,000 | C | TOR |
3. Patrick Kane | $10,500,000 | RW | CHI |
4. Jonathan Toews | $10,500,000 | C | CHI |
5. Carey Price | $10,500,000 | G | MTL |
6. Anze Kopitar | $10,000,000 | C | LAK |
7. Jack Eichel | $10,000,000 | C | BUF |
8. Alex Ovechkin | $9,538,462 | LW, RW | WSH |
9. Evgeni Malkin | $9,500,000 | C | PIT |
10. Jamie Benn | $9,500,000 | LW | DAL |
11. P.K. Subban | $9,000,000 | D | NSH |
12. Sidney Crosby | $8,700,000 | C | PIT |
13. Corey Perry | $8,625,000 | RW | ANA |
14. Steven Stamkos | $8,500,000 | C | TBL |
15. Leon Draisaitl | $8,500,000 | C | EDM |
16. Henrik Lundqvist | $8,500,000 | G | NYR |
17. Claude Giroux | $8,275,000 | C, RW | PHI |
18. Ryan Getzlaf | $8,250,000 | C | ANA |
19. Jakub Voracek | $8,250,000 | RW | PHI |
20. Phil Kessel | $8,000,000 | RW | PIT |
21. Ryan Johansen | $8,000,000 | C | NSH |
22. John Carlson | $8,000,000 | D | WSH |
23. Brent Burns | $8,000,000 | D, RW | SJS |
It’s interesting to note that while there are 35 players who will make $8 million or more next season, only 23 have a cap hit in that same range.
A big reason for this discrepancy are players’ preference to front-load contracts in anticipation of a potential lockout that could force a work stoppage as early as 2020.