What a difference 20 years can make.
The good folks at Capgeek sent out a tweet on Friday comparing today's NHL salaries to those of 20 years ago, and the overall reality is startling.
There were 44 #NHL millionaires in 1992-93. There are 482 under #NHL contract today.
— CapGeek (@capgeek) December 20, 2013
What's even more remarkable is a straight up comparison of individual player salaries from 1992-93 to the current NHL season.
| Player | 1992-93 Salary | Player | 2013-14 Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eric Lindros | $3.5M | Shea Weber | $14M |
| Wayne Gretzky | $3M | Sidney Crosby | $12M |
| Mario Lemieux | $2.4M | Zach Parise | $12M |
| Mark Messier | $2.38M | Ryan Suter | $12M |
| Mike Modano | $1.95M | Eric Staal | $9.25M |
| Teemu Selanne | $1.9M | Alex Ovechkin | $9M |
| Grant Fuhr | $1.8M | Brad Richards | $9M |
| Joe Sakic | $1.8M | Zdeno Chara | $8M |
| Pat LaFontaine | $1.77M | Steven Stamkos | $8M |
| Brian Leetch | $1.66M | Marian Hossa | $7.9M |
Based just on this small bit of information, it's not hard to imagine why there's been three lockouts in the interim.