The post-season is here! Whether you’re a hockey fan or not, you have to admit it’s one of the most exciting times of the year. Teams are battling it out for spot in the playoffs, which means more exciting games, more overtime, and more adrenaline!
While we can’t predict how the games will turn out, we can look into how the series shake out. Some teams make it to the playoffs more easily than others, and some players perform better in the postseason than others. It might be interesting to know how much money can be made in the playoffs, and which players bring in the big bucks.
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How Much Money Can Players Make In The Post-Season?
There are a number of contracts and sponsorship deals that get finalized or renewed in the postseason, especially in the last week of the regular season. Teams and players may want to take advantage of this window, so it’s important to have a good idea of how much money can change hands in the post-season.
If you’re a fan of hockey, you’ll know that there are no guarantees when it comes to sports. However, there are a few rules that tend to apply during the playoffs. First, the teams that make it to the postseason usually have the money to spend. Second, fans tend to get invested in their favorite team, so there’s usually some sort of an incentive to get behind the team financially in the postseason. Finally, players tend to perform better in the post-season than during the rest of the season. Based on this, you can probably expect a significant pay raise in the postseason (this is also assuming they’re all playoff eligible, of course).
So how much money can players make in the playoffs? Let’s take a look
Top Five Highest Paid NHL Players In The Playoffs
In the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs, the top five highest paid players were:
- Evgeni Malkin: $12 million (8 years, $65 million)
- Joe Pavelski: $10.5 million (team-high in all sports)
- Seth Jones: $9.425 million (team-high in all sports)
- Alexander Radulov: $7.85 million (3 years, $25 million)
- Max Pacioretty: $7.5 million (2 years, $22.5 million)
Radulov is the only player on this list who isn’t currently on a playoff team, but it’s still pretty close to the end of the regular season, and he’s had some very productive seasons. If he continues to perform at this level, he could really cash in, especially since the Montreal Canadiens haven’t qualified for the playoffs yet. With the way things are going, he could be looking at a massive payday.
Some fans might be wondering if teams should be rooting for the villain, especially since four of these players are all on the same team. It’s a valid question, and it’s one that was asked by several fans on Twitter. Let’s look into it a bit.
On The Sidelines, The Bad Guys Aren’t Always The Bad Guys
It’s true that each of these players has had their share of on-ice accidents, injuries, and disciplinary problems. However, in some cases, these problems haven’t been caused by bad luck or bad judgement but by the players themselves, or by team management. In these situations, the players haven’t been entirely innocent either. Here are the top five highest paid players of the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs, sorted by their overall worth as of the 2016-17 NHL season.
- Evgeni Malkin: $12 million (8 years, $65 million)
- Alexander Radulov: $7.85 million (3 years, $25 million)
- Alex Gallivan: $7.5 million (2 years, $22.5 million)
- Kyle Connor: $7.25 million (1 year, $7.25 million)
- Sean Monahan: $6.75 million (3 years, $22.5 million)
If you compare the worth of these players now to their worth in the 2016-17 season, you’ll notice that three of them have dropped in value. This is mostly due to a decline in scoring, partly caused by an increase in parity, and also because some of these players are now on personal or team-adopted bans due to behavioral issues. Despite this, three of them are still comfortably in the top five of the NHL and worth more than they were before the season began. Still, it’s undeniable that a lot has happened to take them down in the rankings. In all likelihood, they’ll be worth less next season too.
The situation with Malkin is a little different. Despite an injury-plagued season, he still managed to put up 16 goals and 52 points in 77 games. If he can play at this level, he’ll be in line for a significant pay raise next season. Furthermore, his current contract pays him a lot more than what he was making at the beginning of the season. This is partly due to the fact that he’s now on the rival New York Rangers’ payroll, but it’s also because the cap has increased a good bit since his previous contract. Malkin is in a bit of a no-man’s land at this point, as it’s difficult to predict how the summer will unfold. He could be making a lot of money this summer, but he could just as easily end up being cheap.
Paycheck To Play Another Day
These are the top five highest paid players in the NHL, but this isn’t necessarily a reflection of how good they are. The fact is that they’ve managed to avoid injury and continue to play at a high level. Still, it’s clear that they’ve been getting a significant amount of money to do something that most people would consider fun or enjoyable. The fact that these games are often decided by a shootout only adds to the mystique of these top players. Is there any other occupation where you’d still be paid even if you didn’t show up for work?
The key to making money in the NHL is performance, and these players continue to deliver. It doesn’t hurt that a lot of them play on some of the world’s most prestigious teams. For a player to reach this level, he has to be really good, and to an extent, he has to be lucky as well. This is evidenced by the fact that four of them don’t currently play for a team that’s in the postseason. Still, with the way things are going, these four could still end up making a lot of money.
Who Is Turning Up In The Playoffs?
With the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs right around the corner, and with plenty of off-season activity to keep an eye on, let’s take a quick look at how the 2017-18 regular season compares to the previous year, and which players are better, cheaper, or more in-demand this year.