WHO GOT PAID, WHO'S GETTIN' PAID?

Here’s a little research I did on the top end of the NHL’s pay scale.

Don’t hold me to the numbers but I think they give a pretty accurate reflection of who is making what ,and more importantly, at what age.

Pre-Salary Cap NHL (2003-2004)
Back before the NHL shutdown for a year to try to get its financial house in order it had appeared to become a bit of a ‘golden parachute’ league. Guys past their prime seemed to be garnering the biggest paydays. A ‘young man’s league’ it wasn’t.

Average age of above list was around 32 with Pronger being the only guy under the age of 30 (He was 28).
The range in pay of the top 15 was between $8.5M and $11M

Fastforward to this coming season and (according to Cap Geek) the top 15 looks like this:

Average age on this list is 26.7, a 5-year drop from pre-Lockout leaders.

Now those numbers reflect front-loaded contracts not ‘cap hits’, which are probably a better comparison to the 2003-04 contracts. Here are the top 15 cap hit contracts for the 2011-12 campaign:

Interesting eh? Look at the ages of the top 5. All are under 27!

FYI, Richards cap hit with the Rangers is $6.666M (go easy on the sign of the beast analogies)

Another interesting nugget is that the position of goaltender is not as well compensated as maybe it should be. (Unless you tanked in the playoffs, verbally pooped on Winnipeg, became a free agent, and signed for a fortune with the Flyers)

All right, my mind is numb-er than normal from all the digits. Draw your own conclusions.