When it comes to North America’s “Big Four” sports leagues, NHL players seem to be getting the short end of the stick in terms of salary.
As recently pointed out in an X post from NHL agent Allan Walsh, a quick look at the league’s top earners from 20 years ago compared to the present day tells a surprising story — even without accounting for inflation.
Don’t believe us?
Here are the NHL’s 10 highest player salaries during the 2003-04 season — just one year before the lockout and implementation of the league’s salary cap system.
| Player | Team | Salary ($) |
| Peter Forsberg | COL | $11,000,000 |
| Jaromir Jagr | WAS | $11,000,000 |
| Sergei Fedorov | ANA | $10,000,000 |
| Pavel Bure | NYR | $10,000,000 |
| Nicklas Lidstrom | DET | $10,000,000 |
| Keith Tkachuk | STL | $10,000,000 |
| Joe Sakic | COL | $9,880,939 |
| Chris Pronger | STL | $9,500,000 |
| Robert Blake | COL | $9,326,519 |
| John LeClair | PHI | $9,000,000 |
So, how much would these guys be making today?
Using the Bank of Canada’s inflation calculator, legends of the game like Jaromir Jagr and Peter Forsberg would be raking in upwards of $16.8 million a year if we moved the clock forward two decades.
And speaking of Jagr, he was making nearly $9 million in his prime back in the late 1990s.
Sure, it doesn’t compare to the astronomical paydays of NBA stars like Stephen Curry ($55.7 million) or Joel Embiid ($51.4 million). But even as we fast forward to the 2024-25 season, the NHL’s top salaries have grown on paper, yet the increase is far less dramatic than one might expect.
With Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews leading the pack after signing a historic four-year, US$53 million extension last summer, here are the current top 10 salaries based on Average Annual Value (AAV):
| Player | Team | Salary (AAV) |
| Auston Matthews | TOR | $13,250,000 |
| Nathan MacKinnon | COL | $12,600,000 |
| Connor McDavid | EDM | $12,500,000 |
| Artemi Panarin | NYR | $11,642,857 |
| Elias Pettersson | VAN | $11,600,000 |
| Erik Karlsson | PIT | $11,500,000 |
| William Nylander | TOR | $11,500,000 |
| David Pastrnak | BOS | $11,250,000 |
| Drew Doughty | LAK | $11,000,000 |
| John Tavares | TOR | $11,000,000 |
Whether or not NHL players’ wages are considered “fair,” at the end of the day, getting paid millions to play a game doesn’t sound half bad.