A top forward is pushing for a contract extension that would place him among the NHL’s highest-paid players, aligning his salary with the league’s previous top earner. The player, currently in the final year of an eight-year deal, has set his sights on matching the annual value of a contract that once stood as the highest in the league. With negotiations underway, the comparison to a star forward’s record-setting paycheck adds pressure to the discussions. The move could reshape salary expectations for elite players entering their prime.

According to Elliotte Friedman in his Saturday Headlines, Nikita Kucherov wanted to be in the Kirill Kaprizov range with his next contract in AAV. Karpizov, at the time, was the league’s highest-paid player when discussing this, receiving a $17MM annual paycheck from Minnesota. Kucherov is in the final season of his current deal, an eight-year, […]