Next up is defenseman Jaccob Slavin of the Carolina Hurricanes. Slavin’s game is somewhat unheralded, given that he is one of the top defensive defensemen in the NHL. Slavin was extended last July and will go into the first year of that eight-year deal in the fall. The contract is heavily loaded with signing bonuses, and the 31-year-old will carry an AAV of $6.395M.
As good as Slavin has been defensively, his deal has a risk if the aging curve is not kind to him, which often isn’t with more defensively minded players. However, for at least next year, he will be underpaid for his elite work in Carolina’s defensive zone, and it should be a while before his game starts to slip dramatically.
Switching over to the Western Conference, Winnipeg Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey’s contract has been of incredible value to the team. The 30-year-old just completed his fifth year of the deal, and he has been unbelievable for Winnipeg, particularly in the past three years, where he has averaged over 24 minutes of ice time per game and has garnered Norris Trophy consideration every year.
Morrissey is making just $6.25M against the cap, and with three years left on the contract, he will likely finish his deal just as his age begins to affect his production. He has remained a solid two-way defenseman who found another level offensively; that said, his offensive production has fallen a bit in the past two seasons, but he still produces points at a much higher level than when he initially signed his eight-year extension. The contract is a steal.
Next, we begin to get into some of the more obvious candidates, and it starts with Cale Makar, who just posted a career year offensively with 30 goals and 62 assists in 80 games. Aside from being elite offensively, Makar has developed a sneaky defensive side to a game that relies on his terrific skating and positional awareness. Makar is making $9M annually for another two seasons and will be eligible for an extension next summer. Until he signs a new deal, Makar should continue to comfortably outperform his contract, which is saying something for someone making the kind of money he is.
Remaining in the West, we look at the best player in the world. Connor McDavid was once the highest-paid player in the NHL, but will enter next season possibly as low as fifth. That shouldn’t last long, though, as McDavid is eligible to sign an extension this summer and will most likely be the top-paid player in the game again in 2026-27 when his new deal kicks in. McDavid will carry a $12.5M cap hit into next season and should considerably outperform it, given that he has posted 100 points in every season except for his rookie season (in which he was injured for nearly half of it) and the 2019-20 season (which was shortened due to the pandemic).
McDavid remains the best in the world, and if he indeed signs in Edmonton, he will top Leon Draisaitl’s $14M AAV. McDavid has stated publicly that his first desire is to win, which, if true, means he will likely leave money on the table. However, if it does go for a significant number, it’s not impossible to imagine him getting close to the $20M annual figure.
Moving back to the Eastern Conference and Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov. The soon-to-be 32-year-old has registered three straight 100-point seasons and has picked up plenty of hardware along the way, including back-to-back Art Ross Trophies in the last two years. Kucherov has two years left on his contract with a cap hit of $9.5M and should have plenty of good production left in him as he moves into his mid-30s. Kucherov’s eight-year $76M contract has been a massive steal for Tampa Bay as Kucherov has done nothing but win cups and pick-up awards during this run.
