The Florida Panthers capped off another spectacular NHL season this year with the franchise’s second consecutive championship. As star defenseman Aaron Ekblad lifted the Stanley Cup, he probably thought, “You know what? Life is pretty good here. I think I’ll stick around for a while.”
This may not be an accurate quote, but Ekblad has no plans to leave Florida anytime soon. He just agreed to an eight-year contract extension with the Panthers. The New Deal has an average annual value of $6.1 million, paying Ekblad a total of $48.8 million.
It’s an impressive chunk of change, to be sure. But it’s wild to compare it to some of the NBA’s deals—even for rookies who haven’t played a single NBA game.
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Ekblad was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NHL Draft. He scored 118 goals and 380 points in 732 career games, a key part of their blue line. Let’s compare him to Cooper Flagg , whom the Dallas Mavericks just selected with the first pick of this year’s NBA draft.
Flagg’s rookie deal will be for four years and he will earn just over $62.7 million. His salary alone is north of $13.8 million, more than double Ekblad’s average annual value. In fact, the No. 2 and No. 3 picks, Dylan Harper and V.J. Edgecombe, will also make more on their rookie deals than Ekblad will make over his entire eight-year contract.
If we break down contracts by average annual value, Ekblad’s $6.1 million is less than the top 12 NBA draft picks. NBA salaries are typically rolled over, allowing players to earn more money in the final years of a deal. Even so, nine rookies have earned more than $6.1 million this year, despite none of them having stepped foot on an NBA court.
Granted, this is kind of a silly exercise. The NBA has a much larger global presence than the NHL, and the former’s salary cap has risen in recent years thanks to lucrative television and streaming deals. Ekblad also got a hometown discount to stay with the Panthers; he likely could have scored a bigger deal in free agency.
Still, it’s wild to see a star in the NHL make less than several entry-level rookies and far less than the average NBA salary of about $9.19 million.
