Nominal vs present value
Local display: $16.0m · Rebased to 2024 USD via US CPI-U
How the total breaks down
Edmonton Oilers salary. Average annual value from an extension that made him the highest-paid player in NHL history by cap hit.
Endorsements. Adidas, Bauer and Rogers deals built around a highlight-reel skating style that travels well outside hockey markets.
Impact 90
- Became the highest-paid player in NHL history by salary-cap hit
- Pushed the league's superstar pay ceiling above Crosby and Ovechkin's prior peaks
- Built an endorsement profile that reaches beyond hockey's traditional North American base
McDavid's contract reset the NHL's cap-hit benchmark just as league revenue and the salary cap itself were climbing again after years of flat growth, letting the next great scorer clear a ceiling Crosby and Ovechkin's own record deals had once defined. His endorsement portfolio, built for a more global, highlight-clip hockey audience, has also grown faster relative to his salary than either of his predecessors' did at the same career stage.
McDavid's contract extension made him the highest-paid player in NHL history by salary-cap hit, and with Adidas, Bauer and Rogers endorsements layered on top, his total peak-year earnings reached roughly $16 million — surpassing both Crosby and Ovechkin's own record-setting contract years once restated in the same dollars. It confirmed the modern cap ceiling had moved meaningfully higher as league revenue, and the cap itself, kept climbing through the 2020s.