- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
NHL highest paid player = 5yrs, $90 mil. NBA highest paid = 5yrs, $314mil.
Posted on 7/9/26 at 2:03 pm
Posted on 7/9/26 at 2:03 pm
Why is the NHL so poor?
Leo Carlsson, 21, has played three NHL seasons and is now the NHL's highest-paid player w/$18 million AAV for the next five years thanks to a Flyers offer sheet matched by the Ducks.
compared to the NBA ...
Leo Carlsson, 21, has played three NHL seasons and is now the NHL's highest-paid player w/$18 million AAV for the next five years thanks to a Flyers offer sheet matched by the Ducks.
compared to the NBA ...
quote:
By waiting until next summer, Jokic can sign a five-year supermax contract that would be worth around $350 million.
LINK
Loading Twitter/X Embed...
If tweet fails to load, click here.
12
Posted on 7/9/26 at 2:07 pm to RelicBatches86
quote:
Why is the NHL so poor?
Lack of popularity
Means lesser media deals
Means lesser revenue
Which means the NHL CBA split gives less to players
Posted on 7/9/26 at 2:08 pm to RelicBatches86
It should be fairly obvious that the NHL doesn't have the means the NBA has.
Posted on 7/9/26 at 2:14 pm to RummelTiger
The NHL has 3-4x as many people on an active roster, and the same number of teams.
edit: not active roster, intended to say under contract
It also is a much more expensive sport to field/fund. NBA teams have shoes, balls, and uniforms. The NHL has *millions* of dollars in equipment it must supply, per terms of the CBA.
It's not entirely analogous.
edit: not active roster, intended to say under contract
It also is a much more expensive sport to field/fund. NBA teams have shoes, balls, and uniforms. The NHL has *millions* of dollars in equipment it must supply, per terms of the CBA.
It's not entirely analogous.
This post was edited on 7/9/26 at 3:00 pm
Posted on 7/9/26 at 2:20 pm to RelicBatches86
Comparing the individual highest paid players isn't a fair comparison because there isn't as big of variation in salary between the big stars and the 2nd string in hockey as compared to NBA.
Top guys in the NHL are only on the ice about 35-40% of the game, compared to NBA top stars being on the court 70-75% of the game. More need to balance your depth in hockey, so NHL teams can't allocate 60% of their payroll to 2 players.
Better comparison would be the overall roster payroll. NHL is $104M and NBA is $164M, but NBA has a soft cap so in reality the average NBA payroll is going to be somewhere in the $185M to $190M range
Top guys in the NHL are only on the ice about 35-40% of the game, compared to NBA top stars being on the court 70-75% of the game. More need to balance your depth in hockey, so NHL teams can't allocate 60% of their payroll to 2 players.
Better comparison would be the overall roster payroll. NHL is $104M and NBA is $164M, but NBA has a soft cap so in reality the average NBA payroll is going to be somewhere in the $185M to $190M range
Posted on 7/9/26 at 2:21 pm to RoyalAir
quote:
The NHL has 3-4x as many people on an active roster,
NBA roster is 15. NHL roster size is 23
Posted on 7/9/26 at 2:41 pm to RelicBatches86
Is it really that complicated? One is way morepopular across the world (especially China) than the other
This post was edited on 7/9/26 at 2:42 pm
Posted on 7/9/26 at 2:42 pm to danilo
quote:
The NHL’s U.S. media rights are split between ESPN and TNT Sports, operating under seven-year contracts worth a combined $4.5 billion. In Canada, Rogers Sportsnet holds exclusive national rights under an 12-year, $11 billion CAD ($7.7 billion USD) deal.
quote:
In July 2024, the NBA signed a new 11-year, $77 billion media rights deal with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon that will begin at the start of the 2025-2026 NBA season.
Quite the mystery here
Posted on 7/9/26 at 2:54 pm to RelicBatches86
1) NBA has higher revenue. Duh.
However, the NBA salary cap is only 59% more than the NHL salary cap. But the highest NBA player makes 249% more than the highest NHL player. Reasons:
2a) The NBA has slightly smaller roster size (15 vs 23).
2b) The top guy on a basketball team is way more impactful on a team’s chances than the top guy on a hockey team (both due to how much playing time each have, and just the nature of the game). Even the 5th guy on a basketball team is probably more impactful than the 2nd or 3rd guy on a hockey team.
But there’s some point, probably around the 7th- or 8th-best on each team, where that flips. The 10th-best guy on a hockey team is way more impactful on a team’s championship chances than the 10th-best guy on a basketball team. The 17th-best guy on a hockey team is way more impactful on a team’s championship chances than the 13th-best guy on a basketball team.
Essentially, you need to have a more even distribution in salary throughout the roster to field a championship hockey team than a championship basketball team.
2c) NHL has a hard cap. NBA has exceptions with things like max contracts / Bird rights that essentially allow the top players to exceed the cap.
However, the NBA salary cap is only 59% more than the NHL salary cap. But the highest NBA player makes 249% more than the highest NHL player. Reasons:
2a) The NBA has slightly smaller roster size (15 vs 23).
2b) The top guy on a basketball team is way more impactful on a team’s chances than the top guy on a hockey team (both due to how much playing time each have, and just the nature of the game). Even the 5th guy on a basketball team is probably more impactful than the 2nd or 3rd guy on a hockey team.
But there’s some point, probably around the 7th- or 8th-best on each team, where that flips. The 10th-best guy on a hockey team is way more impactful on a team’s championship chances than the 10th-best guy on a basketball team. The 17th-best guy on a hockey team is way more impactful on a team’s championship chances than the 13th-best guy on a basketball team.
Essentially, you need to have a more even distribution in salary throughout the roster to field a championship hockey team than a championship basketball team.
2c) NHL has a hard cap. NBA has exceptions with things like max contracts / Bird rights that essentially allow the top players to exceed the cap.
This post was edited on 7/9/26 at 2:58 pm
Posted on 7/9/26 at 2:58 pm to Tiger Prawn
quote:
NBA roster is 15. NHL roster size is 23
Active roster is not the same as overall assets under contract. NBA has a max of 18 players under contract. NHL has 50.
Those prospects under contract playing in the AA and AAA level are still paid by the NHL team, with a small stipend going back to the NHL team for those players. Most, but not all, NHL teams also own their own farm clubs, particularly in the AHL/AAA level.
Again, it's not entirely analogous. The cost sunk into the G league or whatever pale in comparison to what's being paid by NHL clubs at the AAA level. The vast majority of the player costs at the AAA level are still being shouldered by the parent NHL club. A precious few AAA players are fully independent, under contract with the AAA team alone.
This post was edited on 7/9/26 at 3:03 pm
Posted on 7/9/26 at 3:12 pm to RoyalAir
quote:
Active roster is not the same as overall assets under contract. NBA has a max of 18 players under contract. NHL has 50.
Those prospects under contract playing in the AA and AAA level are still paid by the NHL team, with a small stipend going back to the NHL team for those players.
Most AHL guys (even if under contract to the NHL club) only make low 6 figures prorated when they’re not on the NHL roster (unless they’re in the AHL while on a 1-way contract… which is the extreme minority). That’s not the reason for the discrepancy.
This post was edited on 7/9/26 at 3:16 pm
Posted on 7/9/26 at 3:14 pm to SlowFlowPro
quote:
Lack of popularity
Means lesser media deals
Means lesser revenue
Which means the NHL CBA split gives less to players
Its funny how people dont get this or get outraged over what these players make. The league brings in a certain amount of money and players get a certain percentage of that. Its pretty simple.
Posted on 7/9/26 at 3:23 pm to Buckeye Fan 19
quote:
Most AHL guys (even if under contract to the NHL club) only make low 6 figures prorated when they’re not on the NHL roster (unless they’re in the AHL while on a 1-way contract… which is the extreme minority). That’s not the reason for the discrepancy.
I'm not saying that the NBA doesn't make more money. It's stupid to suggest that it's not more popular. Of course it is, and it generates more revenue, which can be transferred into player salaries.
I'm merely suggesting that the direct comparison of NBA and NHL isn't fully apples to apples. There's more mouths to feed, and more equipment to buy, under NHL's CBA than the NBA's. Even if the NHL's revenues were matching the NBA's, it still won't pay the same salaries for the reasons I provided.
This post was edited on 7/9/26 at 3:30 pm
Posted on 7/9/26 at 3:28 pm to RelicBatches86
Yeah but hockey is 100000x's more fun to watch in person and on television.
Posted on 7/9/26 at 5:48 pm to RelicBatches86
I’d rather be a league with less money and a vastly superior product. I honestly don’t know how NBA fans exist with today’s game. It’s a bunch of iso basketball with flopping as bad as soccer.
Posted on 7/9/26 at 5:54 pm to RelicBatches86
Activate a few brain cells
Posted on 7/9/26 at 7:03 pm to Hamma1122
It’s capitalism NBA generates more revenue and has less players to pay than NHL
Posted on 7/9/26 at 8:07 pm to KillerNut9
quote:
honestly don’t know how NBA fans exist with today’s game. It’s a bunch of iso basketball with flopping as bad as soccer.
We don’t even think about hockey and that drives yall nuts
Posted on 7/9/26 at 9:58 pm to RoyalAir
quote:
It also is a much more expensive sport to field/fund. NBA teams have shoes, balls, and uniforms. The NHL has *millions* of dollars in equipment it must supply, per terms of the CBA. It's not entirely analogous.
Okay, so when I was playing in HS in the mid 2000’s sticks were going for close to $200.
IDK how it works now. You used to have a 30 day/month policy on the stick. I remember people breaking Easton sticks on say day 28 on purpose. Then you could get a new stick and also a new policy.
Posted on 7/10/26 at 6:50 am to maizegoblue
quote:
Okay, so when I was playing in HS in the mid 2000’s sticks were going for close to $200.
Yep. And the legitimate pro models are closer to $400/stick.
That adds up quickly, plus helmets, pants, shins, gloves, elbows, chests, and skates. I'd venture to guess that a player, fully outfitted for a season, is close to 50k. Maybe more.
Page 1 of 2
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News