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Around the League 2019-2026 Edition

It's the players that somehow let themselves be severly underpaid for near a decade now, and finally the top salaries have returned to where they should be - elite players actually getting near the max allowable caphit finally, like they do im every other sport.
 
Top Contracts as % of Cap in Year 1

1. Makar '28: 17.97%
2. Carlsson '27: 17.31%
3. Chara '07: 17.05%
4. Ovechkin '09: 16.82%
5. Celebrini '28: 16.56%
6. Kaprizov '27: 16.35%
7. McDavid '19: 15.72%
8. Crosby '09: 15.34%
9. MacKinnon '24: 15.09%
10. Matthews '25: 15.06%
11. Kane '16: 14.71%
11. Toews '16: 14.71%
13. Draisaitl '26: 14.66%
14. Gomez '08: 14.63%
15. Panarin '20: 14.29%
16. Matthews '20: 14.28%
17. Vanek '08: 14.20%
18. Karlsson '20: 14.11%
19. Tavares '19: 13.84%
20. Kopitar '17: 13.70%
21. Lecavalier '10: 13.60%
22. Crosby '14: 13.53%
23. Doughty '20: 13.50%
24. Price '19: 13.21%
25. Pettersson '25: 13.18%


And this metric probably overstates the actual size of the new contracts because the cap is now expected to continue to skyrocket going forward faster than it used to back in the day.

The Carlsson contract is obviously silly but that's because it's the first time a team really tried to use an Offer Sheet to land a star player.
 
Teams have to spend the cap space. They are paying players 50% of HRR no matter what. It’s already committed to the players.
 
I don’t care about the fairness or rationale of it, just that I’d think the owners would put up a bigger fight against such a drastic sudden increase in one offseason.
 
because a bunch of players finally stood up for what they're actually worth.

it's been ridiculous seeing top player after top player sign for way, way below market value year after year. that doesn't happen in any other sport.

like wtf is mcdavid signing for the same salary he would have signed for 20 years ago? ridiculous.
 
I guess I just don’t understand the 50% thing then. Previously the players would get it anyway but apportioned pro rata among them for the excess? Now the top players are grabbing it for themselves, leaving less excess to be shared pro rata?
 
They made a deal during COViD. Players didn’t take a pay cut and had to pay the owners back via a flat cap and taking less than 50 for several years.

Now the cap has jumped up 6 years worth of revenue increases and inflation in 2 offseasons.

If no one spent the extra cap space the owners would have owed players through escrow
 
Last edited:
zeke said:
It's the players that somehow let themselves be severly underpaid for near a decade now, and finally the top salaries have returned to where they should be - elite players actually getting near the max allowable caphit finally, like they do im every other sport.
Click to expand...
This day was long overdue for elite salaries

The CMD or Makars are not the problem

Its the 2-4 tiers below looking at 12-15% of the cap

The current rigid CBA structure isnt built for salary escalation

You get a team with 3 really good players and one elite star your looking at 60% of your cap eaten up

Your going to wipe out the middle class MLB style with 50-60% of your team teams players making squat

Next CBA has to get fixed with shorter contracts , trade clause provisions etc... and get team flexibility like other sports
 
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