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In the summer of 2016, Nathan MacKinnon signed a seven year deal worth 6.3 million per year. MacKinnon is an elite player and is currently one of the most dynamic young forwards in the NHL. Also on the Avalanche, the young Mikko Rantanen is coming off of his second 80+ point season. Rantanen is a brilliant offensive player, but there isn't a team in the league that would choose Rantanen over MacKinnon, and yet Rantanen is set to make 3 or 4 million dollars more than MacKinnon this summer.

Taylor Hall signed a seven year deal worth 6 million in the summer of 2013, MacKinnon signed his 6.3 million dollar deal three years later. Now three years after that players are making contracts between 8-11 million.

Who broke the NHL?

In 2015/2016 the highest cap any team had was the Pittsburgh Penguins with $73,751,100. This past season the highest cap hit was the Detroit Red Wings with $86,422,598. This is a 17% increase. In 2012/2013 that salary cap was 70.2 million... between then and 2015/2016 there was only a 5% increase.

Here are the top 10 goal scorers from the 2013/2014 season and how much their respective cap hits were. I chose not to use 2012/2013 due to the lockout and the shortened season.

1.) Sidney Crosby - 80GP 36-68-104 - 8.7 million
2.) Ryan Getzlaf - 77GP 31-56-87 - 8.25 million
3.) Claude Giroux - 82GP 28-58-86 - 3.75 million
4.) Tyler Seguin - 80GP 37-47-84 - 5.75 million
5.) Corey Perry - 81GP 43-39-82 - 8.625 million
6.) Phil Kessel -82GP 37-43-80 - 5.4 million
7.) Taylor Hall - 75GP 27-53-80 - 6 million
8.) Alexander Ovechkin - 78GP 51-28-79 - 9.5 million
9.) Joe Pavelski - 82GP 41-38-79 - 4 million
10.) Jamie Benn - 81GP 34-45-79 - 5.25 million

TOTAL: 65.225 Million

Now compare that to the top 10 scorers this last season.

1.) Nikita Kucherov - 82GP 41-87-128 - 9.5 million
2.) Connor McDavid - 78GP 41-75-116 - 12.5 million
3.) Patrick Kane - 81GP 44-66-110 - 10.5 million
4.) Leon Draisaitl - 82GP 50-55-105 - 8.5 million
5.) Brad Marchand - 79GP 36-64-100 - 6.125 million
6.) Sidney Crosby - 79GP 35-65-100 - 8.7 million
7.) Nathan MacKinnon - 82GP 41-58-99 - 6.3 million
8.) Johnny Gaudreau - 82GP 36-63-99 - 6.75 million
9.) Steven Stamkos - 82GP 45-53-98 - 8.5 million
10.) Aleksander Barkov - 82GP 35-61-96 - 5.9 million

TOTAL: 83.275 Million

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Overall production has increased in recent memory, but it does not correlate to the overall increase in paychecks. So back to my original question, who is to blame?

CONNOR MCDAVID AND LEON DRAISAITL

I don't think you can find an intelligent person who can argue that paying Connor McDavid at 12.5 million dollars a season was a poor decision. McDavid is an elite player that despite being on a team that has struggled as much as Edmonton has, still produces over 100 points a season and is still able to showcase the fact that he is the most dynamic player in the entire league. McDavid stepping in as the next Sidney Crosby set the bar for what the best player in the league should make.

Draisaitl however you can make a different argument. Right now, as 80+ point players are asking for 10 million a year or more, it's easy to say in hindsight that the Oilers are fine only paying Draisaitl 8.5 million. At the time however, 8.5 was a massive jump, especially looking at comparable players like Barkov (5.9), MacKinnon (6.3), Scheifele (6.125), and Tarasenko (7.5). Leon was coming off a very successful season with 77 points and a brilliant playoff performance with 28 points in 19 games and his teammate who he played most of the season with was just given a 12.5 million dollar deal. Draisaitl was paid about 1 million more than most of his comparables...... most.

EVGENY KUZNETSOV

Almost two full months before Leon Draisaitl signed his contract, the Washington Capitals resigned centre Evgeny Kuznetsov to an eight year deal worth 7.8 million. Up to that point, here were Kuznetsov's numbers:

2013-14 - 17GP 3-6-9
2014-15 - 80GP 11-26-37
2015-16 - 82GP 20-57-77
2016-17 - 82GP 19-40-59

He had a strong 2015/2016 season and then a very respectful if not dominant 2016/2017 season. It was after his 59 point season that he signed his new deal. Since then Kuznetsov has had 70+ point seasons and his contract looks fine, but for the time that was a massive jump and clearly was used as a reference for Leon Draisaitl and his agent.

JACK EICHEL

If I had to point out one player who was most at fault for the constantly increasing caps it would have to be Jack Eichel.

Eichel came into the NHL with the unfortunate side effect of being drafted after Connor McDavid. #97 is a generational talent and while Eichel is still really really good, he does not come close to stacking up. Eichel had three great seasons where in total he scored 73-104-177 in 209GP. He was almost a ppg player in his second and third seasons which were both cut short due to injuries.

When Eichel signed his contract he had not yet produced 30 goals, or 70 points or had any strong playoff performances, in fact Eichel has yet to appear in a playoff series. The Buffalo Sabres with all of that info still saw fit to give their #1 centre an eight year 10 million dollar deal. Producing less than Kuznetsov, McDavid, and Draisaitl, Eichel was given a contract that would change the league. 10 million became the new benchmark for a teams top producing player.

It will be interesting to see how the NHL adapts to this jump in contracts, the cap can only increase by so much per year and once again we are approaching another salary renegotiation between the NHL and the PA.

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