You May Not Want to See This: How Draisaitl's Historic NHL Deal Compares to the NBA and Other Sports Leagues

Another year, another new highest-paid player in the NHL.

On Tuesday, Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl signed a historic eight-year contract extension worth $112 million. 

With a cap hit of $14 million for the 2025-26 season, the Oilers star forward will soon surpass Toronto’s Auston Matthews ($13.25 million) — who this season will surpass Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon ($12.6 million) — as the NHL’s newest highest-paid player in terms of average annual value.

Well, that is unless someone gets paid more than Draisaitl before then. Which seems pretty likely at a time when the salary cap — and salaries, in general — are finally on the rise again.

The most likely candidate to pass Draisaitl is his Oilers teammate, Connor McDavid, whose contract expires in 2026. There is already talk that McDavid’s next deal could come with a $16-million cap hit — more if he chooses not to leave any money on the table this time around.

Of course, with the way that contracts — and the salary cap — are (finally) going up (and up), don’t be surprised if someone even exceeds that number. If so, the NHL could be getting closer to its first $20-million player. 

For a league that has laughably trailed behind the other major pro sports leagues in terms of compensation, it’s about time players are starting to earn more. 

After all, La Liga soccer star Kylian Mbappe is being paid roughly $79.42 million U.S. (€71.67 million) in base salary and bonuses. That’s not the entirety of his contract. Rather, it’s his yearly salary. 

In the MLB, Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani earns $70 million. The NBA’s Jayson Tatum's average annual salary is about $62.8 million annually, while NFL quarterbacks Jordan Love, Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence each earn $55 million.

If Draisaitl were playing in the NBA, his cap hit would be as much as Onyeka Okongwu — the league’s 117th-best-paid player, who is currently only the fifth-best-paid player on his team. Remember that the next time someone says that NHLers are overpaid. 

If anything, NHLers have been drastically underpaid for years. 

It was 10 years ago when Chicago’s Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews became the first NHLers to break the $10-million threshold, signing identical contracts worth $10.5 million per year in 2014.

Three years later, McDavid passed them both when he signed an eight-year, $100-million extension that carried a $12.5-million cap hit. For a while, nobody got close to that number.

It wasn't until 2022, when MacKinnon signed an eight-year extension worth $12.6 million annually, that the NHL crowned a new highest-paid player. 

A year later, Matthews passed MacKinnon by signing a four-year contract with a $13.25-million cap hit. A year after that, Draisaitl signed his historic deal.

That steady stream of growth is a good sign for a league where salaries had been stagnant. But with the cap starting to rise steadily after three years of flatlining due to the pandemic, it’s time for NHLers to be shown the money.

When McDavid signed his massive deal, the salary cap was at $73 million. Only three players were earning $10 million or more. 

Seven years later, the cap has risen by $15 million. There are 18 players now earning  $10 million or more. And it’s not slowing down.

Along with McDavid, who becomes a free agent in 2026, there are several big-name NHLers – Artemi Panarin, Mikko Rantanen, Mitch Marner, Jack Eichel, Kirill Kaprizov – who will need new contracts that should exceed $10 million in the next few years. 

Don’t be surprised if Panarin, who is earning $11.642-million, gets more than what Draisaitl will earn. And don't be surprised if McDavid — and then Cale Makar, whose contract expires in 2027 — gets even more. If so, we could be getting closer and closer to the NHL's first $20-million player. 

For the NHL, it's about time.

Get the latest news and trending stories right to your inbox by subscribing to The Hockey News newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or by visiting our forum.