A players annual salary has become second fiddle to what the salary cap number is. Front-loading or back-loading of contracts makes it harder to judge what the player is actual worth on a year-to-year basis.
Players salaries have become public knowledge over the last couple years, with fans paying close attention to what a player makes, and if he’s living up to the salary. When he’s not, he’s most likely to hear about it from the fans and media.
With this in mind, I put together a list of the top 100 NHL salary cap hits for the 2010-2011 season (Kovalchuk will added when he signs). Too see if a player is living up to this contract, I included the amount of points they tallied last season, goal against average for goalies, and their ranking compared to the rest of the league (forwards and defenseman are listed separately). I know points/stats aren’t the be-all-end-all on a players value, but it’s what we’re using here as a measure.
Do to the size of chart, it’s been given a separate page. Follow the link, Top 100 Salary Cap Hits for Next Season and their 2009-10 Stat Rank