Five players who could earn more than Leo Carlsson

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Five players who could earn more than Leo Carlsson
Credit: Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

About ten days ago, Leo Carlsson signed his contract for the upcoming season and the four seasons after that. That said, he did so in the form of a hostile offer… and at an annual salary of $18 million.

This means he'll likely be the highest-paid player in the league in 2026–27… unless someone else tops him by then.

And when you consider that the salary cap will continue to skyrocket and that Carlsson didn't sign for many years of full free agency, you realize there are five players who could very well surpass Carlsson's $18 million annual salary over the next 12 months. Let's take a closer look at them.

The two most logical candidates are on the blue line. Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar both need new contracts ahead of the 2027–28 season, and they're expected to reset the market.

Elliotte Friedman recently predicted an $18M-per-year deal for Hughes: it's not hard to imagine a scenario in which he and Makar could (narrowly) exceed Carlsson's $18M.

The other obvious candidate is Macklin Celebrini. The Sharks' young superstar will also need a new contract looking ahead to 2027–28… and Celebrini has already proven that he's among the very best in the NHL.

Could he command $19 million or $20 million a year? After Carlsson's contract, that suddenly seems possible.

Jason Robertson's situation is also interesting. He isn't expected to exceed $18 million per year (he won't get that in arbitration), but he'll reach full free agency in a year. He turned down $15 million per year from the Kraken: he could break the bank within a year, whether in Dallas or elsewhere.

And finally, the only one who seems to have a chance of surpassing Carlsson as early as this season is Connor Bedard. We don't necessarily expect that to happen, but the deal Carlsson signed gives leverage to the Blackhawks' true franchise player.

Will his shoulder injury work against him, though? It's not impossible… but even if he signs a bridge contract, he could still end up earning a higher salary than Carlsson by the time Carlsson's contract expires.


Extension

Looking ahead to the 2028–29 season, we see that Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, and Zach Werenski will all be unrestricted free agents in the summer of 2028.

If Carlsson's record still stands in two years, you can be pretty sure that one of those three players will have surpassed it by then.

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