Twenty-nine NHL players carry a salary cap hit of $10 million or more for the 2026-27 season. That is up from 20 players last season and 17 the season before — a 45% jump in a single year, driven by the salary cap rising to $104 million. Anaheim’s Leo Carlsson tops the list at $18 million. No player has yet reached a $20 million cap hit, though one will next season.
Those 29 players occupy roughly 3.9% of the league’s roster spots and account for $348.0 million, or 10.5% of all salary cap space in the NHL — the equivalent of 3.35 entire teams’ payrolls held by 29 people.
The full list: every $10M+ cap hit in 2026-27
| # | Player | Team | Pos | 2026-27 cap hit | Term | Signed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leo Carlsson | Anaheim | C | $18,000,000 | 5 yr, to 2031 | 2026 |
| 2 | Kirill Kaprizov | Minnesota | LW | $17,000,000 | 8 yr, to 2034 | 2025 |
| 3 | Connor Bedard | Chicago | C | $15,000,000 | 5 yr, to 2031 | 2026 |
| 4 | Leon Draisaitl | Edmonton | C | $14,000,000 | 8 yr, to 2033 | 2024 |
| 5 | Jack Eichel | Vegas | C | $13,500,000 | 8 yr, to 2034 | 2025 |
| 6 | Auston Matthews | Toronto | C | $13,250,000 | 4 yr, to 2028 | 2023 |
| 7 | Nathan MacKinnon | Colorado | C | $12,604,000 | 8 yr, to 2031 | 2022 |
| 8 | Connor McDavid | Edmonton | C | $12,500,000 | 2 yr, to 2028 | 2025 |
| 9 | Mitch Marner | Vegas | RW | $12,000,000 | 8 yr, to 2033 | 2025 |
| 10 | Mikko Rantanen | Dallas | RW | $12,000,000 | 8 yr, to 2033 | 2025 |
| 11 | Jason Robertson | Dallas | LW | $12,000,000 | 1 yr, to 2027 | 2026 |
| 12 | Kyle Connor | Winnipeg | LW | $12,000,000 | 8 yr, to 2034 | 2025 |
| 13 | Elias Pettersson | Vancouver | C | $11,600,000 | 8 yr, to 2032 | 2024 |
| 14 | Igor Shesterkin | NY Rangers | G | $11,567,857 | 8 yr, to 2033 | 2024 |
| 15 | Martin Necas | Colorado | RW | $11,500,000 | 8 yr, to 2034 | 2025 |
| 16 | William Nylander | Toronto | RW | $11,500,000 | 8 yr, to 2032 | 2024 |
| 17 | David Pastrnak | Boston | RW | $11,250,000 | 8 yr, to 2031 | 2023 |
| 18 | Rasmus Dahlin | Buffalo | D | $11,000,000 | 8 yr, to 2032 | 2023 |
| 19 | Drew Doughty | Los Angeles | D | $11,000,000 | 8 yr, to 2027 | 2018 |
| 20 | Artemi Panarin | Los Angeles | LW | $11,000,000 | 2 yr, to 2028 | 2026 |
| 21 | Pavel Dorofeyev | NY Rangers | LW | $11,000,000 | 7 yr, to 2033 | 2026 |
| 22 | Adrian Kempe | Los Angeles | LW | $10,625,000 | 8 yr, to 2034 | 2025 |
| 23 | Thomas Harley | Dallas | D | $10,587,000 | 8 yr, to 2034 | 2025 |
| 24 | Evan Bouchard | Edmonton | D | $10,500,000 | 4 yr, to 2029 | 2025 |
| 25 | Alex Tuch | Washington | RW | $10,500,000 | 8 yr, to 2034 | 2026 |
| 26 | Jonathan Huberdeau | Calgary | LW | $10,500,000 | 8 yr, to 2031 | 2022 |
| 27 | Erik Karlsson | Pittsburgh | D | $10,000,000 | 8 yr, to 2027 | 2019 |
| 28 | Aleksander Barkov | Florida | C | $10,000,000 | 8 yr, to 2030 | 2021 |
| 29 | Logan Cooley | Utah | C | $10,000,000 | 8 yr, to 2034 | 2025 |
Cap hits per PuckPedia and CapWages. Verified 7 September 2026.
Erik Karlsson’s contract carries an $11.5 million average annual value, but San Jose retained $1.5 million per year in the 2023 trade, so Pittsburgh’s cap charge is $10 million — the figure used here.
Who has the highest cap hit in the NHL for 2026-27?
Leo Carlsson of the Anaheim Ducks has the highest cap hit in the NHL for 2026-27 at $18 million. Carlsson reached that figure in an unusual way: Philadelphia signed the Swedish center to an offer sheet in July 2026, and Anaheim matched it, committing five years and $90 million. Carlsson was the second overall pick in 2023 and is 21. The $18 million figure is $1 million clear of Kirill Kaprizov’s $17 million in Minnesota and $4 million clear of Leon Draisaitl, the highest-paid player of last season. No offer sheet in NHL history had previously set the league’s top cap hit.
Has any NHL player reached a $20 million cap hit?
No NHL player carries a $20 million cap hit in 2026-27. The highest figure this season is Leo Carlsson’s $18 million. The $20 million barrier falls in 2027-28, when Cale Makar’s eight-year, $163.2 million extension with Colorado begins at a $20.4 million average annual value — the richest contract in NHL history by AAV. Makar signed that deal on 28 August 2026. The $104 million salary cap for 2026-27 was widely expected to produce a $20 million player immediately; it did not, because the contract that broke the barrier was signed to start a year later.
Why isn’t Cale Makar’s record contract on this list?
Cale Makar’s record contract does not begin until 2027-28, so his cap hit for 2026-27 is $9 million — below the threshold for this list. Makar is still playing out the six-year, $54 million deal he signed with Colorado in 2021, which runs through the coming season. PuckPedia show $9,000,000 for 2026-27 and $20,400,000 from 2027-28.
How many NHL players earn $10 million or more?
Twenty-nine NHL players have a cap hit of $10 million or more in 2026-27. The count has risen sharply: 17 players in 2024-25, 20 in 2025-26, and 29 this season — a 45% increase year over year and the largest single-season jump on record. The driver is the salary cap, which rose to $104 million for 2026-27 under the new collective bargaining agreement. Fourteen of the 29 cap hits are new this season, meaning nearly half the list did not exist in this form a year ago. Two players fell off the 2025-26 list when their contracts expired: Carey Price and Sergei Bobrovsky.
Which NHL teams have the most $10 million players?
Three teams have three players each at $10 million or more: Dallas (Mikko Rantanen, Jason Robertson, Thomas Harley), Edmonton (Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, Evan Bouchard) and Los Angeles (Drew Doughty, Artemi Panarin, Adrian Kempe). Four teams have two: Toronto, Colorado, Vegas and the New York Rangers. Twelve teams have exactly one. Thirteen teams have none at all — Carolina, Columbus, Detroit, Montreal, Nashville, New Jersey, the New York Islanders, Ottawa, Philadelphia, San Jose, Seattle, St. Louis and Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay is the most striking of those: the Lightning have four players between $9 million and $9.5 million and not one above.
Which of these contracts are new for 2026-27?
Fourteen of the 29 cap hits take effect for the first time in 2026-27. Five were signed during calendar 2026: Leo Carlsson ($18M), Connor Bedard ($15M), Jason Robertson ($12M), Pavel Dorofeyev ($11M), and Alex Tuch ($10.5M). Nine more were signed earlier but only begin now: Kirill Kaprizov, Jack Eichel, Connor McDavid, Kyle Connor, Martin Necas, Artemi Panarin, Adrian Kempe, Thomas Harley and Logan Cooley. Jack Eichel’s is the largest jump on the list, from $10 million last season to $13.5 million. The remaining 15 cap hits carry over unchanged from 2025-26.
Is any goaltender earning $10 million?
Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers is the only goaltender in the NHL with a cap hit of $10 million or more, at $11,567,857. Shesterkin signed an eight-year deal in December 2024 that made him, at the time, the highest-paid goaltender in league history by average annual value. He remains so. The next-highest goaltender is Andrei Vasilevskiy of Tampa Bay at $9.5 million. Goaltenders are systematically underpaid relative to skaters at the top of the market: 28 of the 29 players on this list are skaters, and no goaltender has ever been the league’s highest-paid player.
Which of these contracts expire after this season?
Three of the 29 contracts expire after 2026-27: Drew Doughty in Los Angeles, Erik Karlsson in Pittsburgh and Jason Robertson in Dallas. All three become unrestricted free agents in the summer of 2027, which makes all three candidates for trade-deadline speculation. Robertson’s is the unusual one — a one-year, $12 million deal signed in July 2026 rather than the long-term extension Dallas was expected to negotiate. Doughty and Karlsson will both be 37. Sidney Crosby is also in a contract year in Pittsburgh, though at $8.7 million he sits below this list, and any extension he signs now would begin in 2027-28 rather than change his cap hit this season.
