NHL comparables for Ohtani's contract show league lags way behind MLB

The sporting world, including Toronto, has been in a frenzy over the last few days after it was reported the MLB's Blue Jays were a finalist for two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani.

After Friday's fiasco where rumours were swirling that Ohtani was on his way to Toronto via a private jet, which ended up being a member of the Shark Tank television show, the Japanese star made his decision.

On Saturday afternoon, it was announced that Shohei Ohtani had agreed to terms on a ten-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, which will see him earn a total of $700 million, the majority of which he'll receive in deferred payments.

The total value of Ohtani's contract is the largest in the history of North American professional and a post from CapFriendly, it shows that the National Hockey League lags way behind Major League Baseball and other leagues on this side of the Atlantic. It's important to note that the main reason this is, when talking about MLB vs NHL, is hockey's hard salary cap, as well as the NHL not earning anywhere near the revenue that Major League Baseball does.


CapFriendly's post shows the top three active NHL players ranked by how much money they've made over the course of their career, and as one would expect, it's not anywhere close to the $700 million that Shohei Ohtani will be getting.

Sidney Crosby comes in first at $141.3 million, which took him 18 seasons to earn. Washington Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin lands in second place at $138.2 million, also in 18 seasons. The third and final name mentioned is Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins who's earned a total of $126.7 million over 17 NHL seasons.