Eli5: why are NHL athletes paid so much less than the other leagues?
In: 10
Smaller league revenue is the biggest reason, like many people have said. Another reason why hockey players don’t earn as much as other athletes is that an individual star player has less impact on a game than the stars in a lot of other sports.
A full NHL roster has 23 players, 20 of which can be active for a game. With 5 skaters and a goalie on the ice per team in most situations, even an elite (non-goalie) hockey player can only expect to play about 20-23 minutes of a 60 minute game. Spending too much of your salary cap on a handful of players makes it harder to find good players for the 40 minutes per game where your best players are resting.
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