Nathan MacKinnon is now the highest-paid player in the NHL. It's not NBA superstar money, but MacKinnon is still a whole lot richer after signing an eight-year extension deal with the Colorado Avalanche worth $100.8 million which comes with an Average Annual Value of $12.6 million. That tops the $12.5 million AAV of the contract of Edmont Oilers star Connor McDavid, who shares an interesting reaction to MacKinnon's huge deal.

Via Andrew Gamble of The Mirror:

“It’s good for hockey, I guess, to keep raising the bar,” McDavid said. “But ultimately the salary cap system's a weird system where the more money you make, the less money someone else can make. It's kind of a weird system that way. There's always going to be give and take.”

Connor McDavid got his deal done with the Oilers way back in 2017 when the team inked him to a $100 million eight-year extension contract. McDavid is worth more than money based on how he's been producing on the ice for the Oilers, but unlike MacKinnon, he has yet to bring a Stanley Cup to Edmonton. Connor McDavid led the Oilers to the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season, with the team even overachieving by making it all the way to the conference finals round, where they got eliminated by MacKinnon and the eventual league champions Avs.

With the money they are paying Connor McDavid, it's always a challenge for the Oilers to surround him with excellent talent. According to CapFriendly, the Oilers are projected to go over the salary cap by nearly $10 million.