Now that NHL free agent frenzy has wound down and contracts signed it is time to look at who is the highest-paid NHL player for the 2023-24 season.
In the table below we are looking at what players are actually getting paid this coming season and not their NHL salary cap hit.
Who do you think is the highest-paid player for the 2023 NHL season? Is it Connor McDavid? Auston Matthews? Erik Karlsson? Last season Tyler Seguin took the honors of being the highest-paid NHL player in the league with a salary of $13 million.
Top 20 NHL player’s salaries for the 2023-24 season
| PLAYER | TEAM | SALARY | AGE | POS | GP | G | A | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Nathan MacKinnon | COL | $16,500,000 | 27 | C | 71 | 42 | 69 | 111 |
| 2. David Pastrnak | BOS | $13,000,000 | 27 | RW | 82 | 61 | 52 | 113 |
| 3. Dougie Hamilton | NJD | $12,600,000 | 30 | RD | 82 | 22 | 52 | 74 |
| 4. Alex Ovechkin | WSH | $12,500,000 | 37 | LW | 73 | 42 | 33 | 75 |
| 5. Kirill Kaprizov | MIN | $12,500,000 | 26 | LW | 67 | 40 | 35 | 75 |
| 6. Seth Jones | CHI | $12,500,000 | 28 | RD | 72 | 12 | 25 | 37 |
| 7. Alex Pietrangelo | VGK | $12,300,000 | 33 | RD | 73 | 11 | 43 | 54 |
| 8. Aleksander Barkov | FLA | $12,000,000 | 27 | C | 68 | 23 | 55 | 78 |
| 9. Timo Meier | NJD | $12,000,000 | 26 | LW, RW | 78 | 40 | 26 | 66 |
| 10. Adam Fox | NYR | $12,000,000 | 25 | RD | 82 | 12 | 60 | 72 |
| 11. Zachary Werenski | CBJ | $12,000,000 | 25 | LD | 13 | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| 12. Roope Hintz | DAL | $11,500,000 | 26 | C | 73 | 37 | 38 | 75 |
| 13. Erik Karlsson | SJS | $11,500,000 | 33 | RD | 82 | 25 | 76 | 101 |
| 14. Brayden Point | TBL | $11,250,000 | 27 | C, RW | 82 | 51 | 44 | 95 |
| 15. Matthew Tkachuk | FLA | $11,250,000 | 25 | RW | 79 | 40 | 69 | 109 |
| 16. Mikhail Sergachev | TBL | $11,050,000 | 25 | LD/RD | 79 | 10 | 54 | 64 |
| 17. Connor McDavid | EDM | $11,000,000 | 26 | C | 82 | 64 | 89 | 153 |
| 18. Artemi Panarin | NYR | $11,000,000 | 31 | LW | 82 | 29 | 63 | 92 |
| 19. Mark Stone | VGK | $11,000,000 | 31 | RW | 43 | 17 | 21 | 38 |
| 20. Cale Makar | COL | $11,000,000 | 24 | RD | 60 | 17 | 49 | 66 |
Next year, you have to think Auston Matthews will have a front-loaded contract and we would not be surprised to see him being paid $17 million in actual salary for the 2024-25 season.
Who are the players that are overpaid for this coming season and have the worst contracts in the NHL? Any guesses because there are some awful salaries that NHL teams are paying out this year.
Top 5 worst NHL contracts for the 2023-24 season
- Zach Werenski $12,000,000
- Seth Jones $12,500,000
- Mark Stone $11,000,000
- Darnell Nurse $10,400,000
- Morgan Reilly $10,000,000
We have Zach Werenski in the top spot for the top 5 NHL worst salaries being paid out this coming season. He has not lived up to his contract and is injured quite often.
