According to the NHL Players Association, 74 players will earn a paycheck of at least $5 million this season. Below is a list of the top 50 highest-paid players in the league. All figures are in U.S. dollars.
| Top 50 salaries for 2008-09 | ||
| Player, Pos. | Team | 2008-09 salary |
| Dany Heatley, LW | Ottawa | $10 million |
| Sidney Crosby, C | Pittsburgh | $9 million |
| Alexander Ovechkin, LW | Washington | $9 million |
| Miikka Kiprusoff, G | Calgary | $8.5 million |
| Daniel Briere, C | Philadelphia | $8 million |
| Scott Gomez, C | New York Rangers | $8 million |
| Wade Redden, D | New York Rangers | $8 million |
| Jason Spezza, C | Ottawa | $8 million |
| Kimmo Timonen, D | Philadelphia | $8 million |
| Thomas Vanek, LW | Buffalo | $8 million |
| Brad Richards, C | Dallas | $7.8 million |
| Henrik Lundqvist, G | New York Rangers | $7.75 million |
| Zdeno Chara, D | Boston | $7.5 million |
| Marian Gaborik, RW | Minnesota | $7.5 million |
| Ilya Kovalchuk, LW | Atlanta | $7.5 million |
| Marian Hossa, RW | Detroit | $7.45 million |
| Niklas Lidstrom, D | Detroit | $7.45 million |
| Ryan Smyth, LW | Colorado | $7.25 million |
| Joe Thornton, C | San Jose | $7.2 million |
| Vincent Lecavalier, C | Tampa Bay | $7.166 million |
| Brian Campbell, D | Chicago | $7.14 million |
| Chris Drury, C | New York Rangers | $7.1 million |
| Jarome Iginla, RW | Calgary | $7 million |
| Roberto Luongo, G | Vancouver | $7 million |
| Dion Phaneuf, D | Calgary | $7 million |
| Michal Rozsival, D | New York Rangers | $7 million |
| Lubomir Visnovsky, D | Edmonton | $7 million |
| Nikolai Khabibulin, G | Chicago | $6.75 million |
| Scott Niedermayer, D | Anaheim | $6.75 million |
| Pavel Datsyuk, C | Detroit | $6.7 million |
| Dan Boyle, D | San Jose | $6.666 million |
| Ed Jovanovski, D | Phoenix | $6.5 million |
| Rick Nash, LW | Columbus | $6.5 million |
| Patrick Marleau | San Jose | $6.3 million |
| Chris Pronger, D | Anaheim | $6.25 million |
| Sheldon Souray, D | Edmonton | $6.25 million |
| Bryan McCabe, D | Florida | $6.15 million |
| Patrik Elias, LW | New Jersey | $6 million |
| Mike Fisher, C | Ottawa | $6 million |
| Sergei Gonchar, D | Pittsburgh | $6 million |
| Mike Green, D | Washington | $6 million |
| Martin Havlat, RW | Chicago | $6 million |
| Paul Kariya, LW | St. Louis | $6 million |
| Ryan Malone, LW | Tampa Bay | $6 million |
| Brian Rafalski, D | Detroit | $6 million |
| Joe Sakic, C | Colorado | $6 million |
| Andrei Markov, D | Montreal | $5.75 million |
| Mathieu Schneider, D | Atlanta | $5.75 million |
| Marty Turco, G | Dallas | $5.7 million |
| Cristobal Huet, G | Chicago | $5.625 million |
