The NHL has long been a lucrative sport, with it often a dream for Canadians up and down the country to make it at the very top, whether that be for the Oilers, Maple Leafs, Canucks or any other outfit.
Today, hockey in Canada is bigger and more lucrative than ever before and the money just continues to pump in, whether it be through record-breaking sponsorships or partnering with new industries that bring in further revenue, from technology to the likes of online gambling.
In the case of the latter, gambling sponsors have become hugely popular, with the Oilers themselves having multiple deals with casinos. That’s likely only to continue as the industry grows in Canada, with some of the best $5 minimum deposit casino canada sites even establishing deals in the sporting world.
What that means is that such deals are seeing wages rise across the NHL and that’s certainly the case in Edmonton. But how much do players earn on the roster? We delve into the details…
An overall look at salaries
Currently the Oilers have a -$2.04million in projected cap space having hit $97.54million with their current active roster of 22 players, while a total of 47 are under contract. The highest current earner for the franchise is Leon Draisaitl, who picks up around $14million per year.
Forwards
Draisaitl is the highest earning of the forwards and as we’ve mentioned the Oilers’ biggest earner, although Connor McDavid isn’t too far behind, earning $12.5million for the 2025/26 season.
It’s expected McDavid is to negotiate a new bumper deal and it’s a hot topic in the press, with Draisaitl stating: “Maybe Connor doesn’t care about…there’s always this thought that he doesn’t want to interrupt anything, he doesn’t want to drag this out into the season, but what’s he interrupting? He’s not interrupting anything.”
So it’s likely his teammate will be pushing for that extension sooner rather than later.
Elsewhere, Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins make up the next two highest earners, earning between $5million and $5 and a half million per year.
Player earnings per year:
- Leon Draisaitl: $14million
- Connor McDavid: $12.5million
- Zach Hyman: $5.5million
- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: $5.13million
- Trent Frederic: $3.85million
- Andrew Mangiapane: $3.6million
- Adam Henrique: $3million
- Jack Roslovic: $1.5million
- Mattias Janmark: $1.45million
- Kasperi Kapanen: $1.3million
- David Tomasek: $1.2million
- Vasily Podkolzin: $1million
- Matthew Savoie: $887k
- Connor Clattenburg: $828k
- Curtis Lazar: $775k
- Noah Philip: $775k
Defense
The seven defenders on the NHL franchise’s roster make up around $34million of the total wagebil, with 26-year-old Evan Bouchard the Oilers’ top earner. He makes up around 11% of the salary cap with a contract worth $10.5million per year.
He signed a two-year extension recently worth $42million across four years, which could cause issues for the salary cap in a few years time, with Yahoo! Journalist Jori Negin-Shecter stating: “The Oilers will likely be walking a salary-cap tightrope by the time Bouchard’s bridge deal expires in two year’s time, with Leon Draisaitl’s deal set to expire the same offseason and reigning Hart Trophy winner Connor McDavid slated, at least right now, to become an unrestricted free agent the following summer.”
Darnell Nurse also picks up just shy of $10million per year, while Mattias Ekholm makes up the top three on the roster in the defense stakes.
Player earnings per year:
- Evan Bouchard: $10.5million
- Darnell Nurse: $9.25million
- Mattias Ekholm: $6million
- Jake Walman: $3.4million
- Brett Kulak: $2.75million
- Ty Emberson: $1.3million
- Alec Regula: $775k
Goalies
The role of a goalkeeper is less lucrative, with the two on the roster taking up less than four percent of the overall salary cap. Stuart Skinner is a $2.6million per year player, while back-up Calvin Pickard picks up $1million per year.
Player earnings per year:
- Stuart Skinner: $2.6million
- Calvin Pickard: $1million
Rounding up the rest
Off roster, there’s around $20million in wages per year, with goalie Connor Ingram picking up the most of that at $1.15million per year.
Forward Max Jones and defender Josh Brown also pick up $1million per year, with the remainder of players not on the roster earning a minimum of $775k per year.
It’s of course a far cry from those on the roster and the next few years will be certainly interesting as salary caps are listed and new deals are done for the Oilers’ star men. Oilers Nation is certainly worried, with little wriggle-room to update the roster this season, unless they get rid of players to make room on that roster.
It’s not a simple market and if the Oilers are going to get back up to being a legitimate Stanley Cup contender, then they’re going to have to be clever in order to stay within the cap and fit around the new CBA rules.
Watch this space. It’s going to be a very interesting one!
