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The KHL is the highest-paying professional ice hockey league in Europe.
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Salaries vary greatly between each European league, from around £12,500 to £3.4 million per year.
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By comparison, the salary floor for a player in the NHL is £570,000 annually.
The European continent has supplied a great many legendary players to the NHL over the years, and even though most top prospects go across the Atlantic to compete, enough remain to keep the standard rather high.
After all, the NHL only has 32 rosters to fill, and there are hundreds of viable prospects coming through the Canadian and US leagues every year.
So, it remains financially viable to be a top-tier professional ice hockey player in Europe, and thanks to powerhouse leagues like the KHL, SHL, NLA, DEL, and Liiga, players can get paid a good salary.
What is the Highest-Paying Ice Hockey League in Europe?
The highest-paying ice hockey league in Europe is the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), which is the top division of Russian ice hockey. Pay ranges from £300,000 to around £2.5 million.
In 2016, it was reported that Alexander Radulov was offered a new record salary of £4.36 million, which would trump the £3.4 million highs earned by Ilya Kovalchuk and Pavel Datsyuk.
Following the invasion of Ukraine, the league lost several of its teams based outside of Russia, including those in Latvia and Finland, and the NHL suspended its dealings with the league.
The league hasn’t ever featured in the ice hockey betting markets of the continent’s top competition, the CHL, and in its place, lower-paying teams from Sweden, Finland, and Switzerland have become the champions of Europe.
How Much Do Other European Leagues Pay Ice Hockey Players?
With the KHL out ahead with a general salary range of £300,000 to £2.5 million per year in player pay, the SHL, DEL, Liiga, and NLA follow as the highest-paying leagues in Europe. Here’s how they rank as it stands:
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KHL, £300k to £2.5m (Russia)
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NLA, £51k to £338k (Switzerland)
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DEL, £76k to £295k (Germany)
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SHL, £68k to £255k (Sweden)
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Liiga, £64k to £255k (Finland)
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ExtraLiga, £42k to £210k (Czechia)
The UK’s EIHL ranks roughly in the middle of the pack for its pay as a top-flight European ice hockey league, with salaries ranging from around £12,500 to upwards of £420,000.
Switzerland recently rose to the top of CHL, with the Genève-Servette HC taking the crown. In the betting, though, it’s usually the generally lower-paying SHL that sees its teams lead the odds.
How Does European Ice Hockey Pay Compare to NHL Salaries?
In the NHL, the minimum a player can earn on a contract is $750,000 (£568k) per season. The highest salary for an NHL player right now is $16.7 million (£12.7m) for Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Across the 32 teams of the NHL – which you can try to name in under five minutes with our quiz – there’s usually at least one player collecting at least $8 million (£6m) per season.
Playing in European ice hockey leagues may not be able to get many players seven figures per year, but there is decent enough pay for the stars who haven’t quite made the leap to the NHL.
*Credit for the photos in this article belongs to Alamy*
