Ice Hockey salaries & payrolls
NHL team cap hits and player contracts, updated from Spotrac.
Biggest payrolls
Total ice hockey team spend
Highest career earnings
Total earned across every season we hold, converted at $1.33 and €1.17 where the source figure was not in dollars
Sixteen names of 1,084. The full NHL money list ranks every career on this site, and the same money is split by position, by franchise and by season further down this page.
The career earnings section
Every NHL career on this site counted by what it was paid: 1,084 careers, 20 season payrolls, 5 positions and 32 franchises
The NHL has paid £19.33bn to the players on this site between 1997-98 and 2026-27, 85.6% of it as base salary. A further £546.1m is signed for and not yet paid, which is a list of its own: these are guaranteed deals, so the money owed is money the franchises cannot take back.
PWHL salaries
194 players on 8 teams in 2025-26
The Professional Women's Hockey League pays its players £8.3m between them in 2025-26. Emily Clark of the Ottawa Charge is the highest paid, and the Montréal Victoire have the biggest payroll.
KHL salaries
488 players we hold a salary for on 22 clubs in 2025/26
The 488 KHL players we hold a salary for are paid £130.8m between them in 2025/26. Sheldon Rempal of Salavat Yulaev Ufa is the highest paid, and SKA Saint Petersburg have the biggest payroll.
Highest paid in the NHL
Top 25 of the 1,471 players we hold a figure for
What a player in the NHL actually earns
Across the 1,471 roster rows carrying a figure, of 1,475 in the NHL squad lists
Median $975k · average $2.6m · $3.78bn across the league
Where the money goes
Share of the NHL payroll by position
Rankings & league tables
Every NHL team
32 clubs · sortable
| TEAM | ON A DEAL | PAYROLL | AVERAGE | HIGHEST PAID |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vegas Golden Knights | 48 | $137,615,293 | $2,866,985 | Jack Eichel $13.5m |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 49 | $129,223,160 | $2,637,207 | Auston Matthews $13.3m |
| Florida Panthers | 46 | $128,807,102 | $2,800,154 | Aleksander Barkov $10.0m |
| Los Angeles Kings | 50 | $126,101,249 | $2,522,025 | Drew Doughty $11.0m |
| Washington Capitals | 48 | $125,753,747 | $2,619,870 | Alex Tuch $10.5m |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | 50 | $125,344,805 | $2,506,896 | Andrei Vasilevskiy $9.5m |
| Dallas Stars | 45 | $125,230,416 | $2,782,898 | Jason Robertson $12.0m |
| Minnesota Wild | 47 | $124,533,601 | $2,649,651 | Kirill Kaprizov $17.0m |
| New York Rangers | 45 | $124,052,579 | $2,756,724 | Igor Shesterkin $11.6m |
| Ottawa Senators | 51 | $123,742,915 | $2,426,332 | Tim Stützle $8.3m |
| St Louis Blues | 50 | $123,396,943 | $2,467,939 | Robert Thomas $8.1m |
| Utah Mammoth | 48 | $121,950,496 | $2,540,635 | Logan Cooley $10.0m |
| Colorado Avalanche | 43 | $121,541,834 | $2,826,554 | Nathan MacKinnon $12.6m |
| Edmonton Oilers | 48 | $120,847,500 | $2,517,656 | Leon Draisaitl $14.0m |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | 50 | $118,864,025 | $2,377,281 | Erik Karlsson $11.5m |
| Buffalo Sabres | 45 | $117,318,015 | $2,607,067 | Rasmus Dahlin $11.0m |
| New Jersey Devils | 43 | $117,212,499 | $2,725,872 | Luke Hughes $9.0m |
| New York Islanders | 45 | $116,893,749 | $2,597,639 | Mathew Barzal $9.2m |
| Winnipeg Jets | 42 | $115,819,999 | $2,757,619 | Kyle Connor $12.0m |
| Nashville Predators | 46 | $115,702,886 | $2,515,280 | Roman Josi $9.1m |
| Anaheim Ducks | 45 | $115,339,305 | $2,563,096 | Leo Carlsson $18.0m |
| Boston Bruins | 42 | $114,268,750 | $2,720,685 | David Pastrnak $11.3m |
| Chicago Blackhawks | 45 | $114,225,823 | $2,538,352 | Connor Bedard $15.0m |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | 45 | $110,516,385 | $2,455,920 | Zachary Werenski $9.6m |
| Montreal Canadiens | 42 | $110,506,664 | $2,631,111 | Noah Dobson $9.5m |
| Carolina Hurricanes | 40 | $110,279,300 | $2,756,983 | Sebastian Aho $9.8m |
| San Jose Sharks | 46 | $110,102,083 | $2,393,524 | Darnell Nurse $9.3m |
| Philadelphia Flyers | 45 | $109,559,584 | $2,434,657 | Trevor Zegras $9.1m |
| Vancouver Canucks | 47 | $109,155,000 | $2,322,447 | Elias Pettersson $11.6m |
| Seattle Kraken | 48 | $107,691,681 | $2,243,577 | Vince Dunn $7.3m |
| Calgary Flames | 43 | $105,727,082 | $2,458,769 | Jonathan Huberdeau $10.5m |
| Detroit Red Wings | 44 | $104,797,082 | $2,381,752 | Dylan Larkin $8.7m |
Every ice hockey player
1,084 players with a page of their own, A-Z