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Juan Soto: more money ($765 million) than the seven biggest contracts in NHL history

 Charles-Alexis Brisebois
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Juan Soto: more money ($765 million) than the seven biggest contracts in NHL history
Credit: Getty Images
If you have a young child, put a baseball bat in his or her hands.

After seeing Shohei Ohtani sign for $700m over 10 years a year ago, Juan Soto has already crushed that total a year later. With a 15-year, $765 million contract, the outfielder leaves the Yankees for the New York Mets.

And that’s despite the fact that he doesn’t pitch, that he’s really rotten defensively and that he won’t earn the Mets as much in advertising as Shohei Ohtani did with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

But because Juan Soto is only 26 and is the league’s most “natural” hitter, he managed to get such a contract. He also has an exit option that could bring him more cash… and no deferred money is on the menu.

In short, the $440 million he turned down two years ago in Washington is long behind him now.

Obviously, this is a completely insane amount of money for the average person. But even for the millionaires of the NHL hockey world, it’s an amount hard to imagine.

And let’s put it into perspective.

In the history of the NHL, only seven players have ever received a contract worth at least $100 million. And if we add up the total amount of those seven contracts, we don’t even come close to Soto’s $765 million.

Here’s how it looks.

  • Alex Ovechkin: $124 million
  • Leon Draisaitl: $112 million
  • Shea Weber: $110 million
  • Sidney Crosby: $104.4 M
  • Nathan MacKinnon: $100.8 M
  • Connor McDavid: $100 M
  • Ilya Kovalchuk: $100M (after his $102M contract was rejected)
  • Total: $751.2 million

It’s worth noting that if Soto had signed the same contract at this time last year, he would have received an amount higher than the value of several NHL franchises. The Coyotes were worth $500 million and the Sabres $750 million.

The Blue Jackets were exactly $765 million, and clubs like Florida ($775 million) and Winnipeg ($780 million) were worth less than the $805 million Soto could earn if he exercises his opt-out in five years’ time.

Basically, if he opts out of his contract, Steve Cohen can prevent him from leaving by giving him another $40 million.

However, since it’s 2024, it’s worth noting that all NHL clubs are now worth at least $1 billion. The Blue Jackets (ranked 32nd) are currently worth, according to Sportico, $1.06 billion.

We know that in a few years, MLB will have to renegotiate its labor contract and that the owners will push for a salary cap. But believe me: the top players want nothing to do with that.

Juan Soto is proof of that.


Overtime

– Clearly.

– Logical.

– Three points in one game this season: impossible to do for a Preds player.

– Montreal tradition.

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