For the first time in the 14-year history of Forbes’ ranking of the NHL’s highest-paid players, hockey has a $20 million man: Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews, who is set to make $16.7 million in salary and signing bonus this season as well as an estimated $5 million off the ice from endorsements, memorabilia and other business endeavors. His $21.7 million total (before taxes and agents’ fees) is $2.7 million more than the next-best figure ever posted on this list, Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid’s $19 million from the 2018-19 season.

To be fair, Detroit Red Wings great Sergei Fedorov notched $29.8 million in total earnings on Forbes’ Celebrity 100 list in 1999, and when adjusting for inflation, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby, then-Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews and McDavid surpassed the $20 million threshold in today’s dollars a combined seven times between 2013 and 2020. Two hockey legends, Wayne Gretzky and Joe Sakic, also topped $20 million when converting to 2024 dollars with their appearances in the 1990s on Forbes’ list of the world’s highest-paid athletes across all sports.

That isn’t to downplay the accomplishments of Matthews, a sharpshooting forward who is coming off a 69-goal season, the NHL’s best mark since 1995-96. Even if it requires some fine print, his financial milestone is a heartening sign for the league’s growth, and for superstars’ hopes of one day getting back to where they were a generation ago.

Frustrated sports agents often point out that in the NHL’s salary cap era—which began after the 2004-05 lockout—no player has topped Sakic’s reported on-ice compensation of $17 million for the 1997-98 season, let alone matched the inflation-adjusted equivalent value ($33 million). Meanwhile, pay in the other major American sports leagues has skyrocketed. At the top of the on-field compensation leaderboard in MLB, the NBA and the NFL, pay is up at least 120%—to a minimum of $55 million in each league—in just the past 10 years. And 103 players in the NBA alone—all the way down to San Antonio Spurs backup center Zach Collins—will eclipse Matthews’ on-ice pay with their salaries this season, according to contract database Spotrac.

Making matters worse, hockey generally offers limited endorsement opportunities relative to other sports. Few players earn seven figures annually off the ice—led by McDavid (an estimated $6 million), Crosby ($5.5 million) and Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin ($5 million), along with Matthews—and the players making up the NHL’s top 10 for total pay this season are set to collect an estimated $21.7 million combined away from the rink. By contrast, MLB, the NBA and the NFL each have a single player hauling in at least $35 million off the field, and the NBA’s top 10 for........

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