2013 NHL Highest Salary & Cap Hit By Position

Since the NHL salary cap was introduced in 2005, clubs have kept a close eye on two key player payroll markers - cap hit and salary. Cap hit corresponds to the dollar amount applied towards team salary cap whereas salary connotes a player's actual take home pay.

The chart below presents 2012-2013 NHL player cap hit and salary figures for the top ten players in each position as published by Cap Geek.

2013 NHL Player Cap Hit By Position
Forwards	$m	Defensemen	$m	Goalies	$m
Ovechkin	9.538	Weber	7.857	Rinne	7.0
Crosby	8.7	Suter	7.538	Lundqvist	6.875
Malkin	8.7	Campbell	7.142	Price	6.5
E. Staal	8.25	Doughty	7.0	Ward	6.3
Nash	7.8	Chara	6.916	Miller	6.25
Lacavalier	7.727	Bouwmeester	6.68	Backstrom	6.0
Parise	7.538	Boyle	6.666	Kiprusoff	5.833
Heatley	7.5	Phaneuf	6.5	Bryzgalov	5.666
Gaborik	7.5	Karlsson	6.5	Luongo	5.333
Stamkos	7.5	Timonen	6.333	Thomas	5.0

2013 NHL Player Salary By Position
Forwards	$m	Defensemen	$m	Goalies	$m
B.Richards	12.0	Weber	14.0	Rinne	7.0
Parise	12.0	Myers	12.0	Lundqvist	6.875
Kovalchuk	11.0	Suter	12.0	Luongo	6.714
Lecavalier	10.0	Keith	8.0	Bryzgalov	6.5
Malkin	9.0	Ehrhoff	8.0	Ward	6.4
Ovechkin	9.0	Pronger	7.2	Miller	6.25
E.Staal	8.5	Campbell	7.142	Backstrom	6.0
M.Richards	8.4	Seabrook	7.0	Fleury	5.5
Spezza	8.0	Wisniewski	7.0	Price	5.5
Stamkos	8.0	Boyle	6.666	Kiprusoff	5.0

The 2005 CBA permitted a player's cap hit and salary figure to diverge dramatically in the same season and over the course of a multi-year contract. Thus, despite Weber ($14m) being paid the most this season, it's actually Ovechkin ($9.538m), who costs the most consuming more of his team's $70.2m cap limit than any other player.  The 2013 CBA limits this cap-circumvention loophole providing that no multi-year contract can fluctuate more than 35% year-to-year on salary amounts and 50% from the lowest salary year to the highest salary year.  

Another interesting facet of modern player contracts are signing bonus payments.  In terms of signing bonuses (as opposed to performance bonuses), five players will earn over $5m of their total compensation in the form of a signing bonus this year (Weber $13m, Myers $10m, Parise $10m, Suter $10m, B.Richards $8m). The genius of structuring player compensation as a bonus is that the earnings are not subject to escrow withholdings and are payable during lockouts.  

In terms of length of contract, 14 players currently have contracts lasting more than 10 years.  The 2013 CBA curbs this practice limiting the length of new contracts to 7 years unless a player is resigning with his current team in which case it's 8 years.  

As for injuries, teams must still pay a player's salary while injured though the cap hit does not count against the club. In the curious case of Boston Bruins physically healthy goaltender Tim Thomas' decision to sit out this season despite having a year remaining on his contract, the opposite is true. Boston will suspend Thomas sparing them payment of his salary, however, Thomas' $5m cap hit will count against club.

A listing of the highest paid players in the NHL since 1990, along with the teams responsible for cutting their checks, can be found here.