NHL All-Star Payrolls: How much money will be on the ice in St. Louis?

Despite a number of all-stars bowing out or falling injured ahead of the break, the All-Star Game in St. Louis will still feature a group of NHL talent valued at an eye-popping amount. Here's a look at the payrolls for each divisional all-star club.

The goal totals won’t be the only numbers that are inflated at the 2020 NHL All-Star Game. Since nobody really cares about any of this, including the players themselves, and we’ll all forget about the event five minutes after it ends, let’s have our annual fun with salaries.

You’ll be thrilled to know that all four teams have been able to get under the league’s $81.5 million salary cap, but you have to remember that’s only for 11 players. Before accounting for injuries and absences, the Atlantic Division comes in as the biggest spenders, with three players on its roster carrying a cap hit of more than $10 million this season. The Metropolitan comes in with the cheapest roster, but once their stars come off long-term injury reserve and end their holdouts, that team is going to be entering some serious salary cap hell.

Nobody in the game has a higher cap hit than the $12.5 million Connor McDavid is pulling down, and nobody should. He is the best player in the world and the Oilers are getting an enormous bargain. Largest salary this season? That would belong to Mitch Marner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who will make $15.3 million.

This is a really, really expensive bunch of players. All told, the four rosters combine for a cap hit of $246,280,142, with another $72,465,326 on the sidelines for a total of $318,745,468. Remember that when you’re watching – if you’re watching – this weekend. The skills competition will almost certainly find a way to be confusing and tedious as it always does and the actual games will be hot death to watch.

ATLANTIC DIVISION
Mitch Marner – $10,893,000
Jack Eichel - $10,000,000
Victor Hedman - $7,875,000
Shea Weber – $7,857,143
David Pastrnak - $6,666,666
Jonathan Huberdeau - $5,900,000
Frederik Andersen - $5,000,000
Andrei Vasilevskiy – $3,500,000
Anthony Duclair - $1,650,000
Tyler Bertuzzi - $1,400,000
Brady Tkachuk - $925,000

TOTAL - $61,666,809

NOTES: Tuukka Rask and his $7 million chose to sit out the game and Auston Matthews was a late withdrawal, replaced by entry-level guy Brady Tkachuk…No entry-level contracts on this team…Payroll for goaltenders will balloon next season when Vasilevskiy’s extension kicks in next season at $9.5 million a year.

METROPOLITAN DIVISION

John Carlson - $8,000,000
Kris Letang - $7,250,000
Braden Holtby - $6,100,000
T.J. Oshie - $5,750,000
Travis Konecny - $5,500,000
Seth Jones - $5,400,000
Jaccob Slavin - $5,300,000
Chris Kreider - $4,625,000
Nico Hischier - $925,000
Mathew Barzal - $863,333
Tristan Jarry - $675,000

TOTAL - $50,388,333

NOTES: Don’t let the low total fool you. With Jake Guentzel, Kyle Palmieri, Dougie Hamilton, Joonas Korpisalo, Artemi Panarin and Alex Ovechkin either hurt or sitting out, the Metro team has $38,731,319 on the sidelines…The total reflects only Barzal’s base salary. He’ll almost certainly earn another $400,000 in bonuses. And he’ll command an enormous salary next season…The key to a good organization is being able to replace high-priced players with cheaper talent and the Metro has done a good job of that, replacing Palmieri with Hischier and Korpisalo with Jarry…With the season he’s having, what on earth is Braden Holtby doing in this game? The Metro could have had Ilya Samsonov for $925,000.

CENTRAL DIVISION
Patrick Kane – $10,500,000
Tyler Seguin – $9,850,000
Ryan O’Reilly - $7,500,000
Alex Pietrangelo - $6,500,000
Nathan MacKinnon - $6,300,000
Connor Hellebuyck - $6,166,666
Mark Scheifele - $6,125,000
Jordan Binnington - $4,400,000
Roman Josi - $4,000,000
David Perron - $4,000,000
Eric Staal - $3,250,000

TOTAL - $68,591,666

NOTES: Everybody who was invited came, so the Central has nothing on injured reserve…MacKinnon remains the biggest steal in the NHL at $6.3 million…Josi’s salary goes up to more than $9 million when his extension kicks in next season…This team will have a tough time replacing Pietrangelo, who stands to become the most coveted unrestricted free agent in the NHL this summer.

PACIFIC DIVISION
Connor McDavid - $12,500,000
Anze Kopitar - $10,000,000
Leon Draisaitl – $8,500,000
Max Pacioretty - $7,000,000
Matthew Tkachuk - $7,000,000
Mark Giordano - $6,750,000
Tomas Hertl - $5,625,000
Jacob Markstrom - $3,666,667
David Rittich - $2,750,000
Elias Pettersson - $925,000
Quinn Hughes - $916,667

TOTAL - $65,633,334

NOTES: With Logan Couture, Marc-Andre Fleury, Jacob Silfverberg and Darcy Kuemper out, the Pacific has $22,100,000 on the sidelines…Total includes only the base salaries for Pettersson and Hughes. Pettersson stands to make $3.775 million if he hits all his entry-level bonuses and Hughes is due to make $1.6 million if he hits is. Both almost certainly will.

Update: An earlier version of this story indicated the Canadian and American women's players participating in the Elite Women's 3-on-3 event would not be paid. The Hockey News has learned the women's players will receive compensation.

(All salary cap information via CapFriendly)

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