For the first time in the 14-year history of Forbes’ ranking of the NHL’s highest-paid players, hockey has a $20 million man: Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews, who is set to make $16.7 million in salary and signing bonus this season as well as an estimated $5 million off the ice from endorsements, memorabilia and other business endeavors. His $21.7 million total (before taxes and agents’ fees) is $2.7 million more than the next-best figure ever posted on this list, Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid’s $19 million from the 2018-19 season.

To be fair, Detroit Red Wings great Sergei Fedorov notched $29.8 million in total earnings on Forbes’ Celebrity 100 list in 1999, and when adjusting for inflation, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby, then-Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews and McDavid surpassed the $20 million threshold in today’s dollars a combined seven times between 2013 and 2020. Two hockey legends, Wayne Gretzky and Joe Sakic, also topped $20 million when converting to 2024 dollars with their appearances in the 1990s on Forbes’ list of the world’s highest-paid athletes across all sports.

That isn’t to downplay the accomplishments of Matthews, a sharpshooting forward who is coming off a 69-goal season, the NHL’s best mark since 1995-96. Even if it requires some fine print, his financial milestone is a heartening sign for the league’s growth, and for superstars’ hopes of one day getting back to where they were a generation ago.

Frustrated sports agents often point out that in the NHL’s salary cap era—which began after the 2004-05 lockout—no player has topped Sakic’s reported on-ice compensation of $17 million for the 1997-98 season, let alone matched the inflation-adjusted equivalent value ($33 million). Meanwhile, pay in the other major American sports leagues has skyrocketed. At the top of the on-field compensation leaderboard in MLB, the NBA and the NFL, pay is up at least 120%—to a minimum of $55 million in each league—in just the past 10 years. And 103 players in the NBA alone—all the way down to San Antonio Spurs backup center Zach Collins—will eclipse Matthews’ on-ice pay with their salaries this season, according to contract database Spotrac.

Making matters worse, hockey generally offers limited endorsement opportunities relative to other sports. Few players earn seven figures annually off the ice—led by McDavid (an estimated $6 million), Crosby ($5.5 million) and Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin ($5 million), along with Matthews—and the players making up the NHL’s top 10 for total pay this season are set to collect an estimated $21.7 million combined away from the rink. By contrast, MLB, the NBA and the NFL each have a single player hauling in at least $35 million off the field, and the NBA’s top 10 for total earnings were at $291 million among them off the court in the 2023-24 season.

Even so, hockey insiders are more optimistic than they have been in years, confident that brands will continue to increase their spending as the league puts a greater focus on marketing a wave of exciting young stars. The NHL’s hockey-related revenue approached $6.3 billion last season, setting a league record and boosting the salary cap by $4.5 million for 2024-25—the biggest jump since 2018. And the pie is expected to keep growing.

In all, the NHL’s 10 highest-paid players are due to receive $156 million this season. That figure is just shy of Forbes’ projection of $159 million for the 2019-20 season, although in reality it stands as a record because the Covid-19 pandemic ended up costing players a portion of their salaries in 2020.

In another promising sign for the sport, McDavid’s Oilers teammate Leon Draisaitl signed an eight-year, $112 million extension in September, with the deal’s $14 million average annual value knocking off Matthews’ $13.3 million for the highest in the league. (His big money kicks in next season.) And McDavid himself may soon reset the market, with the three-time MVP poised to enter free agency in 2026.

It won’t be LeBron James or Shohei Ohtani money, but for a sport finally getting out of the neutral zone, it would be a big score.

Matthews signed a four-year, $53 million contract extension in August 2023 and immediately justified it by leading the league in goals for the third time in his eight-year career with 69—the most ever by a U.S.-born player. Since he joined the NHL in 2016, no player has tallied more goals than his 368. Matthews, named Toronto’s captain this summer, can pass Mats Sundin and become the top goalscorer in the Maple Leafs’ illustrious history with another 52. Off the ice, Matthews recently added Nike and Prime sports drinks to a lucrative sponsorship portfolio that already included RBC, Uber and a half-dozen other brands.

MacKinnon’s eight-year, $100.8 million extension with the Colorado Avalanche, signed in 2022, gave him the NHL’s highest average annual contract value at $12.6 million until Auston Matthews and Leon Draisaitl came along. Now, MacKinnon is coming off a season in which he racked up a franchise-record 140 points and claimed his first Hart Trophy as league MVP, as well as the Ted Lindsay Award, given to the MVP as selected by fellow players. MacKinnon is also among the NHL’s most successful pitchmen, working with brands including Cwench sports drinks, Tim Hortons and Upper Deck.

While McDavid’s average annual contract value led the league when he inked his eight-year, $100 million extension in 2017, even the general manager who signed him to the deal, Peter Chiarelli, acknowledged at the time that he could have negotiated a higher salary (over a shorter term). McDavid accepted the discount so the Oilers could build a winning team, and last season, with his former agent Jeff Jackson having replaced Chiarelli at the helm of Edmonton’s hockey operations, the club reached the Stanley Cup finals. Now, the three-time Hart Trophy winner can look ahead to a new contract beginning in 2026—when the salary cap is expected to exceed $96 million—and with individual players allowed to take up a maximum of 20% of the cap, McDavid could be in line for up to $19 million a year. He also makes an NHL-best $6 million annually off the ice, from partners including Alo Yoga, BetMGM, Bodyarmor sports drinks and Canadian telecommunications company Rogers.

Ovechkin resumes his chase of the NHL’s career goals record needing just 41 to match Wayne Gretzky’s 894, a milestone that once seemed untouchable. While Ovechkin finished with a pedestrian—for him—31 goals last season, he had 42 and 50 in the two years prior, and he is the third player ever with a 19-season streak scoring at least 20. In one possible omen, Ovechkin scored in September on his first shot of the preseason. But the clock is ticking: The Russian superstar has two seasons remaining on the five-year, $47.5 million contract he signed with the Capitals in 2021, and he told Russian newspaper Sport-Express in February that he expects to retire when the deal ends. Ovechkin counts Nike, Hublot and Papa John’s among his sponsors and can expect more brands to come calling as he closes in on Gretzky.

After signing an eight-year, $92.8 million extension with the Vancouver Canucks in March, keeping him out of restricted free agency, Pettersson is ready to move past a late-season slump that was exacerbated by tendinitis in his knee. Just don’t confuse him with the Vancouver prospect by the same name, a 20-year-old fellow Swede whom the Canucks drafted in 2022. With the star center Elias Pettersson already known as Petey, some fans have started referring to the “other” Elias Pettersson—a defenseman—as D-Petey.

The Bruins’ roster is a little less star studded than it has been in recent years, but Pastrnak didn’t miss a beat last season, piling up 110 points. He will now line up alongside a new No. 1 center in free-agent signing Elias Lindholm. Pastrnak, who is lovingly nicknamed Pasta by Boston fans and is under contract with the Bruins until 2031—on an eight-year, $90 million deal he inked last year—is also looking to build off a successful summer with the Czech national team, which won gold at the world championships.

Nylander bypassed unrestricted free agency with an eight-year, $92 million extension he signed in January, in the midst of a career season in which he produced 98 points. In addition to his marketing work with partners including Rogers, Sherwood hockey equipment and Sonnet Insurance, Nylander is among the players featured in the new Amazon Prime Video docuseries Faceoff, along with two fellow members of the highest-paid list, Connor McDavid and David Pastrnak.

Guentzel is on his third team of 2024, after he was traded in March from the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Carolina Hurricanes and then in June to the Tampa Bay Lightning, who signed him to a front-loaded seven-year, $63 million contract before he could become a free agent. A four-time 30-goal scorer, he should give the Lightning some offensive punch on a line with Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point, after star center Steven Stamkos left for the Nashville Predators.

The Sabres gave Dahlin an eight-year, $88 million contract extension last October and were rewarded with a season in which he posted career highs in goals (20), hits (195), blocked shots (154) and ice time (2,059 minutes, fourth-most in the NHL). The Swede then hosted a dozen or so teammates at an informal minicamp in the Swiss Alps, showing the leadership instincts that made him a natural choice to step into Buffalo’s vacant captain position. “It’s probably the proudest moment of my life,” Dahlin said in September as he became, according to the Buffalo News, the NHL’s first captain born in the 2000s.

Almost from the moment Jones agreed to an eight-year, $76 million extension in 2021, Blackhawks fans have derided it as one of the worst contracts in the NHL. But while Jones hasn’t fulfilled the promise he showed as a 23-year-old by finishing fourth in the voting for the 2018 Norris Trophy for the league’s best defenseman, he remains a skilled player and a veteran workhorse on a young team trying to climb out of the division basement. The U.S. national team recognized his value, naming him an alternate captain for the 2024 world championships.

The Forbes ranking of the NHL’s highest-paid players reflects on-ice earnings—including base salaries and signing bonuses—paid in connection with the 2024-25 season, for contracts signed as of October 8, 2024. On-ice figures are rounded to the nearest $100,000.

The off-ice earnings estimates are determined through conversations with industry insiders and are also rounded. The figures reflect annual cash from endorsements, licensing, appearances and memorabilia, as well as cash returns from any businesses in which the athlete has a significant interest. Investment income such as interest payments or dividends is not included, but Forbes does account for payouts from equity stakes athletes have sold. Forbes does not deduct for taxes or agents’ fees.