Carlsson tops 2026-27 pay list as NHL salaries keep rising, with Makar’s offseason record reshaping the ladder

The NHL’s top end of player salaries is moving again for 2026-27, with Anaheim Ducks forward Leo Carlsson projected to lead the league at the highest-paid slot for the coming season. According to Yahoo Sports’ full breakdown of player pay for 2026-27, Carlsson’s contract will average $18 million over five years, placing him at the top of the sport’s annual salary hierarchy for that specific season.

The pay structure matters because it reflects how quickly teams have been forced to adjust to a league-wide market that has kept escalating, particularly for elite young forwards and franchise defensemen. For Anaheim, having a young core figure arrive at the league’s salary ceiling is a sign of both investment and timing, but it also sets a new internal bar for performance expectations as the Ducks plan around that financial commitment.

The broader storyline is not only who leads in 2026-27, but who is expected to climb past him soon. Yahoo Sports reports that Macklin Celebrini and Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar will pass Carlsson next season, underscoring that the league’s most expensive contracts are continuing to refresh rather than stabilize.

Makar’s offseason milestone is a key detail in that shift. Yahoo Sports says the Avalanche blue-liner became the third player to set a record this offseason, tying the salary surge to ongoing contract resets at the very top. The significance for the sport is that when a third record is reached in one offseason, it suggests the market is not merely rising, but repricing the upper tiers in quick succession.

As for Celebrini, the reference in the breakdown points to the next wave of high-end earners coming into view. Even without the specific dollar figure in the available reporting here, the claim that he will overtake Carlsson next season frames him as a central piece of the next leadership cluster in NHL compensation, one built around premium young talent.

All of these developments should be viewed as snapshots of how the league’s financial ladder changes by season, not as a permanent ranking. Player payments are tied to contract terms and timing, which means year-to-year comparisons can shift quickly, especially when teams extend or renegotiate players at different points on their careers.

For what to watch next, the league-wide takeaway is straightforward. The top of the salary chart is moving forward in back-to-back seasons, and teams will likely continue to treat elite roster pieces as cap-centerpieces. The Ducks’ 2026-27 ceiling for Carlsson will be followed immediately by a test of how quickly the next set of negotiations and contract escalators push other stars to the forefront of the pay ladder.

In parallel, Makar’s record-setting offseason reinforces that the defenseman market can reshape the entire list, not just the forward ranks. When the highest-paid players include both a young scoring centerpiece and a proven defensive engine, it highlights how clubs are balancing different skill profiles while converging on the same financial strategy: paying for game-changing roles at premium prices.