List below are the Top 30 Salary Cap Numbers for centers heading into the 2011-12 NHL season. Due to front-loading contracts (back-loaded in some cases), and teams having to deal with the salary cap, a players cap number takes precedence over their actual salary.
| Rk. | Player | Team | 2011-12 Cap Number | 2011-12 Salary |
| 1 | Sidney Crosby | PIT | $8,700,000 | $9,000,000 |
| Evgeni Malkin | PIT | $8,700,000 | $9,000,000 | |
| 3 | Eric Staal | CAR | $8,250,000 | $7,750,000 |
| 4 | Vincent Lecavalier | TBL | $7,727,000 | $10,000,000 |
| 5 | Steven Stamkos | TBL | $7,500,000 | $8,000,000 |
| 6 | Scott Gomez | MTL | $7,357,000 | $7,500,000 |
| 7 | Jason Spezza | OTT | $7,000,000 | $8,000,000 |
| Joe Thornton | SJS | $7,000,000 | $8,000,000 | |
| 9 | Patrick Marleau | SJS | $6,900,000 | $6,900,000 |
| 10 | Anze Kopitar | LAK | $6,800,000 | $6,400,000 |
| 11 | Mikko Koivu | MIN | $6,750,000 | $7,290,000 |
| 12 | Pavel Datsyuk | DET | $6,700,000 | $6,700,000 |
| 13 | Nicklas Backstrom | WAS | $6,700,000 | $6,000,000 |
| 14 | Brad Richards | NYR | $6,667,000 | $12,000,000 |
| 15 | Paul Stastny | COL | $6,600,000 | $6,600,000 |
| 16 | Daniel Briere | PHI | $6,500,000 | $7,000,000 |
| 17 | Jonathan Toews | CHI | $6,300,000 | $6,000,000 |
| 18 | Henrik Sedin | VAN | $6,100,000 | $6,100,000 |
| 19 | Mike Richards | LAK | $5,750,000 | $6,600,000 |
| 20 | Shawn Horcoff | EDM | $5,500,000 | $6,500,000 |
| 21 | Ryan Getzlaf | ANA | $5,325,000 | $5,750,000 |
| 22 | Jeff Carter | CLB | $5,273,000 | $6,000,000 |
| 23 | Ryan Kesler | VAN | $5,000,000 | $5,000,000 |
| Tomas Plekanec | MTL | $5,000,000 | $5,000,000 | |
| Patrice Bergeron | BOS | $5,000,000 | $5,900,000 | |
| Mike Ribeiro | DAL | $5,000,000 | $5,000,000 | |
| 27 | Tim Connolly | TOR | $4,750,000 | $5,500,000 |
| 28 | Andy McDonald | STL | $4,700,000 | $4,200,000 |
| 29 | Daymond Langkow | CGY | $4,500,000 | $4,500,000 |
| David Legwand | NAS | $4,500,000 | $4,500,000 | |
| David Backes | STL | $4,500,000 | $4,500,000 | |
| Brooks Laich | WAS | $4,500,000 | $6,500,000 | |
| Tomas Fleischmann | FLA | $4,500,000 | $4,500,000 |