Lots of music for little money: Pastrnak among the NHL’s most valuable stars. But financially, players are struggling

In the whole world of professional elite sport, money plays a big role these days. At the same time, it is a kind of indicator of quality. However, the amount of money players earn is not always entirely adequate to their qualities. The same is true in the NHL, where you can find players who take too much money for their performance on the ice. But then there are also players at the other end of the list. They take less than they deserve.

Astronomical budgets are hampered by salary caps in the top North American competitions. It’s actually a good thing, it makes the leagues more equal, anyone can beat anyone. It’s good for hockey, too. Every once in a while, a team that wasn’t expected to make it to the Stanley Cup finals. Like Florida last year.

The fact is, the NHL isn’t the biggest bonanza for athletes. They can only dream of the fabulous earnings of the best football players in the world. Even in competition with American sports, the National Hockey League isn’t exactly the strongest financially.

Auston Matthews of Toronto signed with the Maple Leafs a few days ago for $13.25 million a year. That’s a figure that no other player in the NHL is taking.

Still, Matthews doesn’t climb very high in the rankings of athletes in North America. If he took that salary in the NFL, for example, he would be the 88th highest paid player. In the NBA, he’d be as high as 113th.

David Pastrnak underpaid

Despite the fact that no one in the NHL takes more money than Matthews, his contract has been labeled by the professional community as extremely beneficial for the club. Both sides realize that in the context of the league’s growing economy, the American forward could ask for a much higher figure. For Matthews, however, the priority was to stay in Toronto, which kept the amount from climbing higher.

Czech forward David Pastrnak, who signed an eight-year contract with Boston in early March, chose a similar strategy. During one season, the talented forward will earn an average of $11.25 million. Even this amount is described as very low for Pastrňák’s age and quality.

The renowned website The Athletic has compiled a ranking of the ten most affordable hockey players. And it is David Pastrňák who is ranked tenth in this list.

His contract includes 13.5 percent of the current salary cap. When Russian hockey player Artemi Panarin signed with the New York Rangers four years ago, his contract included 14.3 percent of the then salary cap. “Pastrnak is a better player at the time of signing than Panarin was then,” wrote The Athletic website, which pointed specifically to the rising salary cap.

Matthew Tkachuk is the best value

Until now, it remains a mystery to many NHL experts how Florida managed to sign Matthew Tkachuk for eight years last year at under $10 million per season. Even with the way Tkachuk shined in the playoffs this year, his contract is being touted as the best bargain ever in the entire league.

“WhatFlorida showed when Tkachuk was on the ice was unprecedented and led to another scoring year in his career. He then took it a step further in the playoffs, as he was literally a problem for every team the Panthers encountered,” the overseas site said of his first-place ranking.

According to experts, he is a player who should realistically average 17.5 percent of the salary cap over the next seven seasons. Instead, however, Matthew Tkachuk, an exceptionally high-paid forward, will be around 10 percent, for which Panthers executives can only wring their hands.

Top 10 most valuable NHL players according to The Athletic

1. Matthew Tkachuk (Florida Panthers)
Contract: $9.5 million per year – 7 years remaining

2. Jack Hughes (New Jersey Devils)
Contract: $8.0 million per year – 7 years remaining

3. Cale Makar (Colorado Avalanche)
Contract: $9.0 million per year – 4 years remaining

4. Tim Stützle (Ottawa Senators)
Contract: $8.4 million per year- 9 years remaining

5. Matt Boldy (Minnesota Wild)
Contract: $7.0 million per year – 7 years remaining

6. Adam Fox (New York Rangers)
Contract: $9.5 million per year – 6 years remaining

7. Miro Heisknen (Dallas Stars)
Contract: $8.5 million per year – 6 years remaining

8. Jason Robertson (Dallas Stars)
Contract: $7.8 million per year – 3 years remaining

9. Charlie McAvoy (Boston Bruins)
Contract: $9.5 million per year – 7 years remaining

10. David Pastrnak (Boston Bruins)
Contract: $11.3 million per year – 8 years remaining

Source: NHL, The Athletic