Listed below are the Top 30 Salary Cap Hits for centerman heading into the 2010-11 NHL Season. We’ve used the salary cap number over the total salary for this season, due to the front loading of contracts. If a free agent signs and makes the list, we’ll update accordingly, but that is unlikely to happen.
Take a look at Top 30 salary cap numbers by position:
Centers | Left Wingers | Right Wingers | Defenseman | Goaltenders
| Rk. | Player | Team | Age | 2010-11 Cap Hit | 2010-11 Salary |
| T1 | Sidney Crosby | Pittsburgh | 22 | $8,700,000 | $9,000,000 |
| Evgeni Malkin | Pittsburgh | 23 | $8,700,000 | $9,000,000 | |
| 3 | Eric Staal | Carolina | 25 | $8,250,000 | $7,500,000 |
| 4 | Brad Richards | Dallas | 30 | $7,800,000 | $7,800,000 |
| 5 | Vincent Lecavalier | Tampa Bay | 30 | $7,727,000 | $10,000,000 |
| 6 | Scott Gomez | Montreal | 30 | $7,357,000 | $8,000,000 |
| 7 | Joe Thornton | San Jose | 30 | $7,200,000 | $7,200,000 |
| 8 | Chris Drury | NY Rangers | 33 | $7,050,000 | $8,000,000 |
| 9 | Jason Spezza | Ottawa | 27 | $7,000,000 | $8,000,000 |
| 10 | Patrick Marleau | San Jose | 30 | $6,900,000 | $6,900,000 |
| 11 | Anze Kopitar | Los Angeles | 22 | $6,800,000 | $6,000,000 |
| T12 | Pavel Datsyuk | Detroit | 31 | $6,700,000 | $6,700,000 |
| Nicklas Backstrom | Washington | 22 | $6,700,000 | $6,000,000 | |
| 14 | Paul Stastny | Colorado | 24 | $6,600,000 | $6,600,000 |
| 15 | Jonathan Toews | Chicago | 22 | $6,300,000 | $6,500,000 |
| 16 | Henrik Sedin | Vancouver | 29 | $6,100,000 | $6,100,000 |
| 17 | Mike Cammalleri | Montreal | 28 | $6,000,000 | $5,000,000 |
| 18 | Mike Richards | Philadelphia | 25 | $5,750,000 | $6,400,000 |
| 19 | Shawn Horcoff | Edmonton | 31 | $5,500,000 | $6,500,000 |
| 20 | Ryan Getzlaf | Anaheim | 25 | $5,325,000 | $5,125,000 |
| T21 | Mike Ribeiro | Dallas | 30 | $5,000,000 | $5,000,000 |
| Tomas Plekanec | Montreal | 27 | $5,000,000 | $5,000,000 | |
| Jeff Carter | Philadelphia | 25 | $5,000,000 | $5,500,000 | |
| Ryan Kesler | Vancouver | 25 | $5,000,000 | $5,000,000 | |
| 25 | Michael Nylander | Washington | 37 | $4,875,000 | $3,000,000 |
| 26 | Alexei Yashin (Buyout) | NY Islanders | 36 | $4,755,000 | $4,755,000 |
| 27 | Patrice Bergeron | Boston | 24 | $4,750,000 | $5,750,000 |
| 28 | Andy McDonald | St. Louis | 32 | $4,700,000 | $5,200,000 |
| T29 | Tim Connolly | Buffalo | 29 | $4,500,000 | $4,500,000 |
| Daymond Langkow | Calgary | 33 | $4,500,000 | $4,250,000 | |
| David Legwand | Nashville | 29 | $4,500,000 | $4,500,000 | |
| Jason Arnott | New Jersey | 35 | $4,500,000 | $4,500,000 |