Leo Carlsson carries the biggest cap hit in the NHL this season, $18 million, and he is 21. Three of the next six names on the list belong to players who were still on their entry-level contracts last season. Connor McDavid, who led the league with 138 points, is 10th.
Biggest cap hits, 2026-27
Cap space, every team →The 21-year-olds
- Leo Carlsson, Anaheim ($18M to 2030-31). Philadelphia signed him to a five-year offer sheet in July and Anaheim matched it. He had 67 points in 70 games last season.
- Connor Bedard, Chicago ($15M to 2030-31). A five-year extension, signed the day after he turned 21, following career highs of 30 goals and 75 points in 69 games.
- Adam Fantilli, Columbus ($13.75M to 2031-32). Six years, agreed after he missed the start of training camp. He played all 82 games last season and had 59 points.
- Cutter Gauthier, Anaheim ($13.5M to 2031-32). Six years, at 22, after 41 goals and 69 points in 76 games.
Anaheim now has $31.5 million tied up in Carlsson and Gauthier, about 30% of the $104 million ceiling, and a projected cap hit of $104.45 million against that ceiling. Utah’s Logan Cooley, also 22, is the fifth player that young at $10 million or more, on a deal that runs to 2033-34.
What the top ten produced last season
The young contracts are priced on what comes next, not on what came before. Last season McDavid produced 11 points for every $1 million of this season’s cap hit and Nathan MacKinnon 10, with 127 points at $12.6 million. Bedard’s 75 points come to 5 per $1 million, Carlsson’s 67 to fewer than 4. Kirill Kaprizov, second at $17 million on a deal that runs to 2033-34, had 89.
Production against cap hit for every forward, defenceman and goalie with a current contract is on the best-value contracts page, which compares each player with what a typical contract at his price produced.
Defence and goal
No defenceman reaches the top 15. Erik Karlsson is the highest-paid at $11.5 million, in the last season of an eight-year contract, at 36. Drew Doughty’s $11 million also ends next summer; Rasmus Dahlin’s runs to 2031-32.
Biggest cap hits, defencemen
Cap space, every team →Igor Shesterkin is the only goalie above $10 million, at $11.57 million, 16th in the league. He saved 19.6 goals above expected last season. Andrei Vasilevskiy ($9.5 million) and Connor Hellebuyck ($8.5 million) are next.
Next summer
Jason Robertson took a one-year, $12 million contract with Dallas in July after a 96-point season, the biggest cap hit of any contract that ends in 2027. He will be an unrestricted free agent at 27. Karlsson, Doughty, Tyler Seguin and Mark Stone follow him. The full list, restricted and unrestricted, is on the 2027 free agents page.
How the money spreads
Across 821 current contracts, 31 players have a cap hit of $10 million or more and 100 are at $8 million or more. At the other end, 240 are at $1 million or less. The median is $3.15 million; the average is $3.84 million.
Three teams have three players at $10 million or more: Dallas (Mikko Rantanen, Robertson, Thomas Harley), Edmonton (Leon Draisaitl, McDavid, Evan Bouchard) and Los Angeles (Doughty, Artemi Panarin, Adrian Kempe). Dallas has a projected cap hit of $105.4 million against the ceiling, before any injured-reserve relief. Every team’s position is on the cap space page.
