Salaries in ska hockey. Salaries of hockey players in the KHL and VHL. Monetary remuneration for professional activities in Russia
Sports.ru released a study of salaries of KHL clubs. “Bomber” studied the list and compared it with the income of football players, which was previously published by the same source. The link to the full study is at the bottom of this material.
Rating leaders
The main salary among football players is Zenit midfielder Leandro Paredes. His annual salary is 5 million euros. SKA hockey players are also ahead of all other clubs in the Russian championship. Ilya Kovalchuk and Pavel Datsyuk receive $4.4 million each.
If we convert this amount into euros, it equals approximately 3.6 million (at today's exchange rate). Artem Dzyuba received the same amount before his loan to Arsenal, Luis Adriano, Alexander Kokorin and Fedor Smolov received less. Only five football players in Russia earn more than this mark.
Zenit and SKA
Not counting Dziuba, in the top 50 salary rankings Russian football 15 Zenit players were hit. Hockey SKA surpassed them a little - 16 people were represented from it at once. It is interesting that SKA hockey players occupy the first four lines of the rating. Only first and third places remained at the top for the Zenit players.
The highest paid foreign player in the KHL is SKA goalkeeper Mikko Koskinen. His salary is approximately 2.1 million euros. This is a little more than Argentinean Emiliano Rigoni earns at Zenit. True, the rest of Zenit’s foreign players receive more.
Two CSKA
The second hegemon of the KHL is Moscow CSKA. It so happens that army clubs dominate the league in terms of salaries and results. 13 CSKA players receive salaries starting from a million euros. The main one is goalkeeper Ilya Sorokin. His annual income is equal to Koskinen's money. At the same time, 22-year-old Sorokin is considered one of the most talented Russian goalkeepers.
His colleague in the role, Igor Akinfeev, receives 2.5 million, but he is nine years older than Sorokin. It is symbolic that it is the goalkeeper who earns the most and in football CSKA. But quantitatively with salaries it is more difficult here. There are only six people from the football army team in the top 50 of the rating. Four of them are legionnaires.
Russians and legionnaires
IN Russian hockey our players dominate. Therefore, eight hockey players from Russia were in the top ten. Football here is far behind its hockey counterpart. Only three Russian players dilute the leadership of legionnaires. Eight people barely made it into the top 20. And this is still progress, because before only four hit.
Hockey also has a strictly limited number of foreign players. But here the formula that they so want to introduce into Russian football can be seen much better. If a foreign hockey player comes to Russia, he is rated in a class higher than ours. Koskinen, Kovar, Lander, Dawes - they all get paid a lot, but they play in the top clubs or at least stand out in the league in terms of performance.
There is your own Fayzulin here
28-year-old Yegor Averin from Lokomotiv has sharply slowed down in his level of play. In two years, he scored a total of only 38 points - this is only two more than in one season - 2015/16. His high salary is 1.1 million euros, and Lokomotiv is constantly fighting for high places in the playoffs. It turns out this without Averin’s significant contribution. For comparison, the leader of Salavat Yulaev, Linus Umark, earns the same amount, who almost pulled the Ufa team into the East finals.
The Shinnik players are probably jealous of Averin, but comparing him with them is a crime. But Averin is somewhat reminiscent of Fayzulin. Victor was last seen on the field more than two years ago. Zenit is fighting for a place in the top three, playing in European cups, but Faizulin looks at all this from the outside. Victor earns 2.2 million - twice as much as Averin, but comparable when comparing the capabilities of sports.
Dawes - Smolov
Barys legionnaire Nigel Dawes plays in a team that didn’t even make it to the playoffs this year. For four seasons in a row, Dawes has scored more than 30 goals and is participating in the top scorers race. In the salary table he is in 14th place with a salary of almost 1.5 million euros. Of those who usually watch the backs of tops, Dawes is the best.
His situation is very similar to that of Fedor Smolov. In Krasnodar, Smolov is the leader in goals and charisma. His “Krasnodar” is still difficult to call a top club even by the standards of Russian football. In the salary ranking, Smolov was in the top ten. He deserved his 2.9 million euros with his high performance - in less than three RFPL seasons in Krasnodar, Fedor has already scored 50 goals.
A little about Spartak
Hockey “Spartak” is constantly trying to attract fans and win over the football diaspora to its side. "Spartak" is the people's team in football and one of the leaders of the Russian Premier League. But with hockey everything is more complicated. This year, Spartak barely made it to the playoffs, where they lost all four matches of the first round to their principal rivals from CSKA. Football players would not be forgiven for this, but they are happy for hockey.
Only one Spartak hockey player made it into the top 50 salary rankings. This is Alexander Khokhlachev, who earns a million euros and performs with quite interesting statistics. In 52 championship matches, the 24-year-old striker scored 50 points. This is the case when a leader wisely justifies the money. In football Spartak, for example, newcomer Pedro Rocha earns more than him. He hardly plays and has scored only one goal in the Russian championship so far.
Clubs and amounts
In the top 10 football rating five different teams are represented. This was facilitated by Dzyuba’s loan to Arsenal. In hockey, such agreements between KHL clubs are not practiced, which is why there are only four teams in the top ten. The total annual earnings of the top 10 hockey players in the rating are approximately 23.4 million euros, and 37.5 million for football players. The KHL is the main hockey league in Europe, but it spends significantly less on salaries than in football Russia.
See the full Sports.ru study.
Hockey in Russia is considered almost a national sport. The most authoritative hockey leagues in our country are the KHL and VHL. The players who perform in them receive fairly high salaries for delighting the audience with their play. Let's find out how much KHL and VHL hockey players earn.
KHL and VHL – Russian hockey leagues
The Continental Hockey League (KHL) is rightfully considered the second most important hockey league on the planet, second only to the American NHL. It is the most authoritative league in Russia, but people are not alone in it Russian teams, since the competition has an international status. 28 clubs from the following countries compete in the KHL:
- Russia;
- Kazakhstan;
- Finland;
- Latvia;
- Belarus;
- Croatia;
- Slovakia.
In the first half of the season, a regular round-robin championship is held between teams divided into the Western and Eastern Conferences. Then, eight best clubs from each conference they compete for the Gagarin Cup in a knockout format using the playoff system.
The Major Hockey League (VHL) is the second most important hockey competition in the country. Unlike the KHL, it consists of 26 teams from Russia and Kazakhstan. Until recently, teams from Ukraine and Belarus took part in the championship. The regular championship is also held here first, and then there are playoff games among the 16 best teams.
Salaries in the KHL
Now let's find out what salaries hockey players receive in the KHL. Naturally, the amount of earnings for each player is individual and depends on his personal playing qualities and the financial capabilities of the club.
At the same time, according to the championship regulations, there is a “ceiling” above which clubs do not have the right to form a wage fund for hockey players. In the 2014/2015 season it was equal to 1.1 billion rubles per year, and in the 2015/2016 season it was reduced to 1.05 billion rubles. Due to the devaluation of the ruble, in terms of dollars, this decrease is even more noticeable.
There is one caveat that additional bonuses may be paid to players if they are specified in contracts.
True, their value should not exceed 20% of wages. In addition, according to the decision, this restrictive rule does not apply to four especially valuable players of the championship. These hockey players are Alexander Burmistrov, Ilya Kovalchuk, Sergei Kostitsyn and Alexander Radulov.
Unfortunately, the full list of the wage fund of hockey players in clubs was last disclosed back in the fall of 2013. If you do the math, you could find out that the average salary of a player in the league was 20 million rubles per year or 1.67 million rubles per month, which translated into dollars at the exchange rate of that time was $600 thousand per year.
It is unlikely that during this time there was a significant change in the salaries of hockey players in rubles. Thus, it can be calculated that due to the devaluation of the national currency in 2015, the average annual income of a league player was $300 – 350 thousand.
The salaries of individual KHL players are a trade secret. However, thanks to rumors, the annual incomes of some hockey players in the league became known. Data on the approximate earnings of individual athletes are presented in the table below.
Of course, due to the devaluation of the ruble, these amounts may decrease. But, as mentioned above, these are just unofficial data, and real ones may differ significantly from them. At the same time, there is no doubt that at the moment the highest paid player playing in Russia is Ilya Kovalchuk.
Salary in VHL
Data on the earnings of hockey players in the VHL are even more limited, since the press and fans still show less interest in them than in the incomes of players in the more reputable Russian league, and the official contract amounts are also not subject to disclosure.
The league's leading clubs pay their players a base salary of more than 1.8 million rubles. per year, other teams - 600 thousand - 1.8 million rubles. in year. The lowest salary level is at VMF-Karelia, where the average income of hockey players is 54 thousand rubles. per month.
At the same time, it is known that the earnings of the most paid hockey players in this league do not exceed 50 thousand dollars a year. Beginners earn only 180 thousand rubles per season.
What will happen this year?
It is unlikely that in 2018 the level of salaries of hockey players, both in the KHL and in the VHL, will change significantly in relation to current indicators. But, at the same time, it is known that for the 2016/2017 season it is planned to reduce the maximum possible wage fund for players for each KHL club to 950 million rubles per year.
In the best case scenario, wage bills for clubs as a whole will be presented to the public, while the fees of individual players will remain secret.
Created: 10/18/2016 13:38
1. Ilya Kovalchuk SKA 5,500,000 dollars/330 million rubles
2. Pavel Datsyuk SKA $4,500,000/270 million rubles
3. Vyacheslav Voynov SKA 4,500,000 dollars / 270 million rubles
4. Vladimir Sobotka Avangard 3,000,000 dollars / 180 million rubles
5. Vasily Koshechkin Metallurg Mg 2,419,000 dollars / 145 million rubles
6. Sergey Mozyakin Metallurg Mg 2,177,000 dollars / 130 million rubles
7. Vadim Shipachev SKA 2,000,0000 dollars / 120 million rubles
8. Mikhail Varnakov Ak Bars 1,700,000 dollars / 102 million rubles
9. Anton Belov SKA $1,500,000/90 million rubles
10. Danis Zaripov Metallurg Mg 1,500,000 dollars / 90 million rubles
11. Andrey Zubarev SKA 1,500,000/90 million rubles
12. Alexander Salak Siberia 1,500,000 dollars / 90 million rubles
13. Alexander Svitov Ak Bars 1,500,000 dollars / 90 million rubles
14. Maxim Chudinov SKA 1,500,000 dollars / 90 million rubles
15. Egor Yakovlev SKA 1,500,000 dollars / 90 million rubles
16. Evgeniy Dadonov SKA 1,400,000 dollars / 84 million rubles
17. Alexander Perezhogin Avangard 1,400,000 dollars / 84 million rubles
18. Mikko Koskinen SKA 1,300,000 dollars / 78 million rubles
19. Stefan Da Costa CSKA $1,300,000 / 78 million rubles
20. Niklas Svedberg Salavat Yulaev 1,300,000 dollars / 78 million rubles
21. Ivan Telegin CSKA 1,300,000 dollars / 78 million rubles
22. Viktor Tikhonov SKA 1,300,000 dollars / 78 million rubles
23. Ilya Zubov Avangard 1,250,000 dollars / 75 million rubles
24. Valery Nichushkin CSKA 1,210,000 dollars / 73 million rubles
25. Vladimir Galuzin Torpedo 1,200,000 dollars / 72 million rubles
26. Sergey Plotnikov SKA 1,200,000 dollars / 72 million rubles
27. Andrey Popov Ak Bars 1,200,000 dollars / 72 million rubles
28. Alexander Khokhlachev SKA $1,200,000/72 million. rubles
29. Igor Grigorenko Salavat Yulaev 1,100,000 dollars / 66 million. rubles
30. Nikolay Prokhorkin SKA 1,050,000 dollars / 63 million rubles
1. The thirty leaders of the KHL salary chart together receive 53 million 306 thousand dollars for the season. Or 3 billion 198 million 360 thousand rubles. This money in 2016 would be enough to cover the annual budget deficit of such regions as the Vladimir, Ivanovo, Kaluga or Tambov regions. At the same time, this is two and a half times less than what was found in September from the notorious Colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Zakharchenko.
2. If Alexander Radulov had not left for the NHL, he would have been the undisputed leader of the Magnificent Thirty rating. CSKA was ready to pay the Russian superstar 420 million rubles ($7 million) a year.
3. The most expensive player in the 2016/17 KHL, Ilya Kovalchuk, in the NHL with his St. Petersburg salary ($5.5 million) would rank 134th.
4. In the ranking of “30 most expensive KHL players,” the St. Petersburg diaspora is unrivaled. 14 SKA players are among the thirty highest paid athletes at the Russian Open Hockey Championship. The top three in the ranking are all Neva CSKA players. Vadim Shipachev could be in fourth place on the “top 30” list, because with easily earned bonuses he will receive 200 million rubles this season. The figure “120 million rubles” indicated in our rating is the salary without taking into account any bonuses. De facto, it costs more than Mozyakin and Sobotka. (The same situation is with Salak, who, in addition to a salary of 90 million rubles, has crazy bonuses included in his contract - 33-40 million).
6. 14 SKA players included in the top 30 rating earn a total of 1 billion 167 million rubles ($19.45 million) per year. This amount is 23 percent higher than the salary ceiling established by the league for 2016/17 (950 million rubles). And not only these players are under contracts with SKA. And we shouldn’t forget about the bonuses paid by the St. Petersburg club on a fabulous scale.
7. Among the thirty most expensive KHL hockey players, only five are foreigners. Two Czechs, a Finn, a Swede and a Frenchman. Such conservatism is one of the signs of respect for one's hockey. Among the thirty most expensive NHL players those who are not citizens of Canada or the United States can be counted on the fingers of two hands. Just like non-Russians in the KHL rankings.
8. If such a rating had been published in 2011, 8-10 places in it would have belonged to Salavat hockey players. It is significant that since then the Ufa club has stopped offering super contracts to players. Only goalkeeper Svedberg and star forward Grigorenko receive more than a million dollars in Zakharkin’s team.
9. In Dynamo and Lokomotiv there are no players with salaries worthy of the prefix “super”. In these clubs, it is not customary for individual hockey players to be “sprinkled.”
10. In the 2008/09 season, Jaromir Jagr earned $8 million at Avangard. Radulov 2013/14 at CSKA received the same amount. Taking into account the fact that the exchange rate of the “American ruble” has since doubled in relation to our currency, it is unlikely that anyone will surpass the records of the two super-forwards for salaries in dollar equivalent in the near future.
11. Among the Russian players in the “top 30 most expensive KHL athletes” rating, there are eight superstars who are not attracted to the Russian national team by its current coaching staff. These are Kovalchuk, Koshechkin, Mozyakin, Varnakov, Zaripov, Svitov, Perezhogin and Grigorenko.
After Vladimir Tarasenko signed a new contract with St. Louis ($60 million over 8 years), which made him one of the highest paid players in the NHL, I decided to compare the salaries of hockey players in the KHL and the NHL and estimate the average salary of hockey players in both leagues.
CRISIS AGAINST KHL
Since we started with Tarasenko, it should be noted: in terms of salary in the NHL, he shares 17-18 places among all hockey players. In the 2015/16 season, his checkbook will be replenished with $8 million. "Dirty." If you subtract taxes– that would be just over $4 million. In Russia, according to rumors, one of the clubs promised him 11. With taxes, it turns out to be about 9.5. But Tarasenko chose the NHL.
In the case of Vladimir, he clearly did not put money at the forefront. But the trickle from the KHL to the NHL is increasing - the most experienced Evgeniy Medvedev, who are in their prime, Artemiy Panarin and Sergei Plotnikov, the very young Yakov Trenin and Vladislav Kamenev, have already signed contracts overseas... Money– not the only factor, of course. But if earlier this factor often played into the hands of the KHL, now it’s the other way around. Crisis, you know.
Salary KHL hockey players Almost all of them were paid in rubles. And even those lucky ones whose income was tied to conventional units did not rejoice for long: in December 2014, the KHL decided to fix the ruble exchange rate to all currencies so that clubs “did not succumb to panic.” And yet, almost a dozen teams have had problems with payments under contracts since the beginning of the season– from Sochi and Ugra to Torpedo and Dynamo Moscow.
AVERAGE SALARY OF A HOCKEY PLAYER IN THE KHL AND NHL
At the beginning of the 2013/14 season, the KHL published salary data for each team. The total amount was about 17 billion rubles. The most wasteful was St. Petersburg SKA (1 billion 271 million rubles), the most modest– Croatian “Medvescak” (180 million). Then all hockey fans armed themselves with calculators and calculated not only the average salary of a hockey player in the KHL, but also the average price of each point for each club and the average price of each goal. Apparently the league didn't like it– since then financial information issued to the press only in the most general form.
So what is the average salary of hockey players in the KHL? If we assume that there are 850 players in the league on significant contracts and divide 17 billion by this number, we get about 20 million per brother. At the 2013 exchange rate, it was about 600 thousand dollars (although a couple of years before that, Igor Larionov spoke about 800 thousand). But now, due to the fall in the ruble exchange rate, these 600 thousand have turned into 350. Moreover, the league has set a salary ceiling (in the 2015/16 season– 1.05 billion, in the 2016/17 season– already 950 million), which further limited the income of players. And bonuses that are not taken into account in these statements do not change things much. Premium in all KHL clubs usually equal to $3,000 for a win in regulation time and $2,000– in overtime or shootout.
Yes, European leagues they can't compare with us. There, even top players can’t see more than 500 thousand dollars a year. But feel the difference with the USA and Canada: the average salary of a hockey player in the NHL, according to North American sources, in the last 2014/15 season was $2.58 million. And 500 thousand was the minimum wage! Yes, in the US and Canada you have to pay about 40-50 percent tax (depending on the state or province), but if you have a chance to gain a foothold in this league, then the game is worth the candle.
MILLIONAIRE PLAYERS
Individual contracts in the KHL– secret behind seven seals. Why irritate people once again, right? Again, we can only go by rumors. According to them, the highest paid hockey player in the NHL is Ilya Kovalchuk, whom SKA pays from 300 to 400 million rubles per season. And if earlier it was more than 10 million dollars, now– God willing, 7. Does Kovalchuk regret that for the sake of St. Petersburg SKA he left the New Jersey Devils, where he was owed 77 million over 7 years?
Maybe not. After taxes, he would have 6.5 million left for the season.– almost the same. But the contract with SKA was signed for 4 years, not 7. At the end of it, Ilya will be 34. Will they give him the same salary again?
Another ex-NHL player, Alexander Radulov, seems to be receiving approximately $4.5 million at the current exchange rate from CSKA. Goalkeeper Vasily Koshechkin and forward Sergei Mozyakin from Metallurg Magnitogorsk are also named among the leaders, but their salaries are said to be already below $4 million.
But they don’t hide their millionaires overseas. So here are the top ten highest paid NHL players for the 2014/15 season. It’s interesting that among Russians, the highest salary in the NHL (after taxes) was not Alexander Ovechkin or even Evgeni Malkin, but Pavel Datsyuk.
Player Team Salary before taxes ($ million) Salary after taxes ($ million)
h. Shea Weber Nashville 14.0 8.1
n. Sidney Crosby Pittsburgh 12.0 6.7
n.Zach Parise Minnesota 11.0 5.9
h. Ryan Suter Minnesota 11.0 5.9
n. Phil Kessel Toronto* 10.0 5.8
v.Henrik Lundqvist Rangers 11.0 5.7
n. Pavel Datsyuk Detroit 10.0 5.7
n. Alexander Ovechkin Washington 10.0 5.6
n. Claude Giroux Philadelphia 10.0 5.5
n. Evgeniy Malkin Pittsburgh 9.5 5.3
* – Phil Kessel was recently traded to Pittsburgh.
The coach of the Omsk Hawks youth team, Mikhail Komarov, told KP about why the MHL was created, named how much young hockey players earn and explained how strictly doctors now monitor the players’ health.
Mikhail Anatolyevich, why is this whole idea of creating a new league needed?
The MHL (Youth Hockey League - Author's note) was created in order to improve the level of youth hockey in Russia. The Russian senior team has won the World Championship for the second year in a row. Moreover, both times the Canadians were beaten. But the youth team's successes are much more modest. In Canada, there is a whole system for training hockey players, consisting of various leagues. Eventually Canadian hockey player gradually becoming stronger in terms of skill. We don't have that. The MHL was created in order to bring together the best young players in our country. With the creation of a new league, young boys will not have to play with already mature men, as was the case before. Therefore, the teams will be approximately equal in strength. The age of MHL participants is from 17 to 21 years.
In some cases, 16-year-old hockey players are allowed to compete. But for this they will need to undergo additional medical examination and must have parental permission.
In adult hockey there are matches where people gather full stands. For example, “Avangard” - “Metallurg” (Magnitogorsk) and others. Do the Omsk Hawks have any fundamental rivals?
There will definitely be a Siberian derby - with the teams of Novokuznetsk and Novosibirsk. Ufa, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Traktor - all these are also our principle rivals. We are looking forward to interesting games with Kazan.
What are your team's goals for this season?
There is only one task - to strive only for the most high awards. We must be leaders - otherwise what's the point of participating? We have a fighting team. Many guys have already played at the European and World Championships. So they already have some experience. Our team’s playing model is the same as Avangard’s. Only our guys still have time to improve their skills before joining the adult team.
Do the players on your team have a chance to become players for the adult Avangard?
10 people registered for the Omsk Hawks are currently training with the main team. They went through a training camp with the team in Germany and will now go to the tournament in Novosibirsk.
Who do you think is capable of becoming a real hockey star in the future?
First of all, this is goalkeeper Eduard Reisvich. He captivates with his attitude. Trains hard. Forwards Orlov, Timkin, defenders Pivtsakin, Kalashnikov. All of them, with the right attitude, can become future stars not only of Avangard, but also of Russia.
The tragedy of last year, when Alexey Cherepanov died, is still remembered. He was a real star. Will any of the young players be able to become as famous in the near future?
Such talented people as Lesha are not born often. They immediately become noticeable. Not only with their acting, but also with the audience’s love for them. People went to see Lesha. Yes, there may be similar players, but there will never be another like Alexey. He was different from everyone else both in life and on the court.
After that tragedy, there was a lot of talk about how the health of young hockey players would be monitored more strictly. What has changed since then?
The attitude towards the health of young hockey players has become so strict that sometimes they have to cancel training in order to take the team to a dispensary or clinic for examination. All children undergo an in-depth blood test. Doctors monitor the condition of all internal organs. Now our entire team has undergone a thorough medical examination. All our players are healthy and cleared to compete. Also, during the season, random examinations of some hockey players will be carried out twice.
Our club now has a specialist who will monitor the heart condition of all players - both ours and the main team.
Salary of young hockey players - 7 - 12 thousand rubles
Mikhail Anatolyevich, you have been working in youth hockey. Are today's young players very different from those you coached ten years ago?
The differences are, of course, big.
Today's youth have many temptations that can lead them away from hockey. Some people think: why train if you can sleep or play on the computer? Unfortunately, some guys give up training, although they could become great masters. I recently met one of these. A few years ago he even played for the senior team. But then I gave up training. Now he rents out motorcycles in one of the city parks. But those who remain in hockey live for this game.
For example, I come to training by car, and several of my hockey players also come by car. This was not the case before either. And this, on the contrary, is good. Our guys, unlike the players from Western Russia, are not fed up with hockey. They want to play and win, they strive to become popular with the help of hockey. I will not say that it is more difficult to work with the current generation. It’s just that now the coach needs more information about the hockey players. And we need a slightly different approach.
If it's not a secret, how much do the young hockey players on your team earn?
Salaries are low. From 7 to 12 thousand rubles per month. Depending on how important the player is to the team. Our salaries are not the highest. In Kazan or Ufa they pay more. But I haven’t heard any complaints from any of my guys.
Do your team often clash? After all, all the guys are young and hot.
I believe that if within a month there is not a single skirmish between our players, it means that training is not going quite right. Because if something doesn’t work out, the guys start to sort things out. And this is necessary. They say that if two men fight and then make up, then this is friendship for life. But, naturally, fights should not happen every day and not for some ridiculous reason, namely because of hockey.
Last year there was a memorable scandal when several young hockey players were taken to serve in the army directly from the team. What has been done to prevent your players from ending up in barracks during the season?
The MHL management promised to solve this problem at the government level. But we didn’t wait and protected the guys. All of them entered full-time studies at institutes. And they have a legal reprieve.
