highest paid NHL players this season

[sillywilly]

Vincent Lecavalier, C Tampa Bay $10 million
Sidney Crosby, C Pittsburgh $9 million
Evgeni Malkin, C Pittsburgh $9 million
Alex Ovechkin, LW Washington $9 million
Chris Drury, C New York Rangers $8.05 million
Daniel Briere, C Philadelphia $8 million
Scott Gomez, C Montreal $8 million
Dany Heatley, LW San Jose $8 million
Wade Redden, D New York Rangers $8 million
Jason Spezza, C Ottawa $8 million
Marian Hossa, RW Chicago $7.9 million
Brad Richards, C Dallas $7.8 million
Zdeno Chara, D Boston $7.5 million
Marian Gaborik, RW New York Rangers $7.5 million
Ilya Kovalchuk, LW Atlanta $7.5 million
Roberto Luongo, G Vancouver $7.5 million
Nicklas Lidstrom, D Detroit $7.45 million
Henrik Zetterberg, C Detroit $7.4 million
Joe Thornton, C San Jose $7.2 million
Brian Campbell, D Chicago $7.14 million
Daniel Alfredsson, RW Ottawa $7 million
Jay Bouwmeester, D Calgary $7 million
Shawn Horcoff, C Edmonton $7 million
Jarome Iginla, RW Calgary $7 million
Miikka Kiprusoff, G Calgary $7 million
Rick Nash, LW Columbus $7 million
Kimmo Timonen, D Philadelphia $7 million
Lubomir Visnovsky, D Edmonton $7 million
Henrik Lundqvist, G New York Rangers $6.875 million
Pavel Datsyuk, C Detroit $6.7 million
Dan Boyle San Jose $6.667 million
Paul Stastny, C Colorado $6.6 million
Corey Perry, RW Anaheim $6.5 million
Dion Phaneuf, D Calgary $6.5 million
Ryan Smyth, LW Los Angeles $6.5 million
Thomas Vanek, LW Buffalo $6.4 million
Patrick Marleau, C San Jose $6.3 million
Ryan Miller, G Buffalo $6.25 million
Chris Pronger, D Philadelphia $6.25 million
Daniel Sedin, LW Vancouver $6.1 million
Henrik Sedin, C Vancouver $6.1 million
Niklas Backstrom, G Minnesota $6 million
Patrik Elias, LW New Jersey $6 million
Jean-Sebastien Gigure, G Anaheim $6 million
Ed Jovanovski, D Phoenix $6 million
Paul Kariya, LW St. Louis $6 million
Anze Kopitar, C Los Angeles $6 million
Ryan Malone, LW Tampa Bay $6 million
Evgeni Nabokov, G San Jose $6 million
Scott Niedermayer, D Anaheim $6 million
Brian Rafalski, D Detroit $6 million
Michal Rozsival, D New York Rangers $6 million
Eric Staal, C Carolina $6 million
Tim Thomas, G Boston $6 million

[sillywilly]

i can't believe redden and horcoff make so much money!!!

[nokids]

redden should be ashamed on himself for accepting that paycheque. 1 goal and 7 assists halfway through the season. (1 millon dollars per point!) wallstreet bankers who have ruined the world economy are more deserving of their obscene bonuses than this bum.

[sillywilly]

he did play well enough to get the contract, its a GMs fault for these stupid contracts. why is winny Lec making 10mil a season??? retarded

[MikeL]

I'm a big NHL fan, however, I have a really hard time with players only playing for the monney. Players switching teams just so they can make half a million more.

I still remember when Kariya took a big pay cut to go play with Selanne in Colorado.

There needs to be a system where it would prevent players to slack off once they get their big contract. I'm not saying all the players don't perform once they get big contracts, but look at the list of highest NHL players that's posted, and there are quite a few that aren't performing.

The NHL is not the only league with this problem.

[nokids]

in the NFL, they can cut players anytime and dont have to pay them next year. i love it. it brings accountability to the players. however, if a team offers a player a contract with 'guaranteed money', it means they are on the hook for that portion regardless if he's cut the same season. it's a safety net for the elite players.

[goochy]

Here's an interesting comparisiopn sillywilly. You posted the top 54 earners in the NHL. Compare their numbers with the top 54 from the PGA money list last year.
Interesting to note that No54 on the NHL list still earns more than No3 on the PGA list. Add to that that PGA players have to pay all their own expenses/travel etc and pay a caddie somewhere around 10% of any earnings. Plus, the PGA players only get paid if they perform. As discussed the NHLers earn even when underperforming.

Makes you realise that outside Tiger, PGA golfers earn much less than NHL players and when you cosider than the NHL is an absolute pauper compared to many other sports (soccer, baseball, football etc) then PGA golfers are really not out of line with other sports. I know PGA careers can be longer than other sports (the average professional Rugby career in England is 39 months) but ever year you have to perform or you're off the tour!

11Tiger Woods$10,508,163
22Steve Stricker$6,332,636
33Phil Mickelson$5,332,755
44Zach Johnson$4,714,813
55Kenny Perry$4,445,562
66Sean O'Hair$4,316,493
77Jim Furyk$3,946,515
88Geoff Ogilvy$3,866,270
99Lucas Glover$3,692,580
1010Y.E. Yang$3,489,516
1111Retief Goosen$3,232,650
1212Nick Watney$3,221,421
1313Brian Gay$3,201,295
1414David Toms$3,047,198
1515Dustin Johnson$2,977,901
1616Hunter Mahan$2,941,349
1717Stewart Cink$2,821,030
1818Rory Sabbatini$2,752,291
1919Kevin Na$2,724,825
2020Padraig Harrington$2,628,377
2121Angel Cabrera$2,625,472
2222Paul Casey$2,582,181
2323Jerry Kelly$2,562,648
2424Matt Kuchar$2,489,193
2525Ian Poulter$2,431,001
2626Mike Weir$2,379,422
2727John Senden$2,305,492
2828John Rollins$2,269,475
2929Tim Clark$2,235,105
3030Justin Leonard$2,232,378
3131Ryan Moore$2,222,871
3232Heath Slocum$2,195,565
3333Jason Dufner$2,190,792
3434Luke Donald$2,174,947
3535Steve Marino$2,161,539
3636Ernie Els$2,147,157
3737Stephen Ames$2,131,538
3838Scott Verplank$2,092,114
3939Anthony Kim$1,972,155
4040Bo Van Pelt$1,945,307
4141Charley Hoffman$1,894,925
4242Robert Allenby$1,890,946
4343Brian Davis$1,874,318
4444Mark Wilson$1,838,414
4545Camilo Villegas$1,804,981
4646Charles Howell III$1,804,460
4747Marc Leishman$1,742,243
4848Chad Campbell$1,725,237
4949Pat Perez$1,720,360
5050John Mallinger$1,717,140
5151Ben Crane$1,667,085
5252Davis Love III$1,622,401
5353Paul Goydos$1,619,91854
54Tim Petrovic

[dbleber]

It'sad that any of these people make that much to play a sport.

[sillywilly]

It'sad that any of these people make that much to play a sport.

why do you say that?

[jeffc]

it stopped being a sport a long time ago. It's a business.

[Mattchew]

PGA players rely on sponsors more than what they make on the course....here is the real #'s

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/117610

[MikeL]

I know this is kind of off topic but I've got to express myself here a little bit... It sickens me to think that there's still starving, sick, homeless people dying every second, and then you turn around and see athletes, actors, etc.. making way too much money. I know some are giving to charity, but I still don't see much improvements in this crazy world.

If only everyone would help each other out, rather than just looking out for themselves and accept the pride of being a professional without the exagerated salaries.

I guess it all makes sense to me, but I guess it would help to be in their shoes to understand better.

Mike

[Mattchew]

speeking of NHL salaries Kovalchuk turned down a 12 year 101M contract with Atlanta.

I hope its not because he wants more, but just wants out of Atlanta.

[Paulio]

He wants out of Atlanta. Who can blame him, though. It must be tough to play in front of 500 fans each night. Plus, they are terrible. I think he is just sick of losing..

speeking of NHL salaries Kovalchuk turned down a 12 year 101M contract with Atlanta.

I hope its not because he wants more, but just wants out of Atlanta.

[jonf]

it's capitalism, folks. You get paid based on what you can make for others. Actors get paid millions because their movies make tens of millions.

If you really hate players getting paid that much, stop buying tickets, merchandise, watching broadcasts, etc.

[goochy]

it's capitalism, folks. You get paid based on what you can make for others. Actors get paid millions because their movies make tens of millions.

If you really hate players getting paid that much, stop buying tickets, merchandise, watching broadcasts, etc.

I don't think that's strictly true. The English Premier League is the richest sports league in the world and Manchester Utd is the most valuable sports team in the world (according to Forbes). Yet every team in the league is in debt and last year 18 of them ran at a deficit. It is highly likely that one of them (Portsmouth) may go into receivership at years end and have had their 4th owner this season!

These teams could not survive without the financial backing of fabulously wealthy owners (Abramovich at Chelsea for example) who treat the clubs as playthings or the banks bailing teams out. I'm not sure anyone actually makes a lot of money owning sports teams.

Yet they must pay these players these salaries because that is the going rate and another club will if they don't...even if they cannot afford them...not because the clubs will make them huge money but they might stay in the league and make some money....it is a vicious cycle.

I read a while back in the Montreal Gazette a report that said in the 1950's the Habs spent approximately 45% of their total revenue on players salaries...in the 2000's it was over 90% (sorry can't recall exact numbers) and I'm sure they are typical in pro sports. No business can run spending 90% of its revenue on salaries. The only people getting super rich in pro sports are the athletes.

now the movies...there I'm with you 100%

[jeffc]

there are a lot of owners making a lot of $. Ask any NFL owner or baseball owner and a number of owners in the NHL. The $ comes from buying and selling of teams, once their value is raised over a number of years. Of course there are always a few that lose their shirts.

[goochy]

there are a lot of owners making a lot of $. Ask any NFL owner or baseball owner and a number of owners in the NHL. The $ comes from buying and selling of teams, once their value is raised over a number of years. Of course there are always a few that lose their shirts.

Yes...that is how they make any money they are going to make but its a risky business.
For example, Manchester Utd is controlled by Malcolm Glazer who also owns the Tampa Bay Buccaners. He borrowed hugely against potential future earnings to purchase the club and has run the club into huge debt (it was debt free when he took over).
Tom Hicks and George Glillete (who between them owned the Habs, Dallas Stars, and Texas Rangers) control Liverpool and did the same thing. They bought Liverpool for $470million....it now has over $500million in debt.
All 3 of these owners are hugely unpopular with the fans in England
Mike Ashley at Newcastle lost a fortune trying the same thing and had trouble selling the club.

Roman Abramovich at Chelsea aquired the club hours before it was to be declared Bankrupt. With a personal wealth of over $10billion dollars (eat your heart out Tiger) he saved the club by provided interest free personal loans....many bandwagon Chelsea fans the world over forget this.

None of these owners made their money primarily from sports team ownership. They all made their wealth elsewhere in business and treat sports teams as trophy possessions, which hopefully they can sell later on. I don;t think pro sports is a very good business model to follow.

[sillywilly]

by the way, ilya kov. was traded to NJ and i expect him to light it up there!!!