NHL Free Agency: 6 Players Likely Looking at a Nasty Pay Cut Under a New CBA

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Money: the great divider. It has been something that people have fought over for centuries and it comes as no surprise that money is the big factor standing between us and a hockey season today.

The NHL owners want a bigger piece of the revenue and they want players to take an immediate cut in their current salaries.

Whether or not this is right for the owners to do, there may be a possibility that the players will have to take some kind of pay cut in the next CBA.

The players to be most affected by this will be the players that just signed the biggest deals.

Zach Parise and Ryan Suter

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Normally, each of these guys would get their own slide, but since they were signed to contracts of identical length and dollar value, they'll be presented together.

Both players stand to make $22 million in the first year of their contract (base salary of $12 million with a $10 million signing bonus), which means that if they were to take a salary rollback of the initial 24 percent the owners proposed, both of these guys would lose $5.28 million.

They're still making a ridiculous amount of money, but just over $5 million is a pretty big cut.

Shea Weber

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Shea Weber had one of the biggest contract deals this offseason when he signed a gigantic offer-sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers, which was later matched by the Predators.

Weber ended up signing a 14-year, $110 million contract. In this contract, Weber is scheduled to make $27 million in the first year of this contract ($14 million base salary and a $13 million signing bonus).

Cut this back by 24 percent and Weber is losing nearly $6.5 million of salary.

Again, Weber still ends up making over $20 million in the first year of his contract so it can't be all that bad.

Ilya Kovalchuk

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Ilya Kovalchuk wasn't the first player to receive one of those contracts that will last until the next millennia, but his was the one that really seemed to start the trend.

Kovalchuk has been in his contract for a couple of years, but he is still scheduled to make pretty large dollars.

In 2012-2013, Kovalchuk is scheduled to make $11 million. At the 24 percent rollback rate, Kovalchuck loses $2.64 million in his next contract. 

Brad Richards

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Brad Richards was the prize of the free-agent market a couple of years ago and ended up scoring a sweet contract with the New York Rangers.

During the 2012-2013 season, Richards is scheduled to make a grand total of $20 million ($12 million base salary and $8 million signing bonus).

Take 24 percent off this deal and you see Richards taking a hit of $4.8 million. 

Tyler Myers

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Tyler Myers is one of the best young defensemen in the league who just got a sweet new contract from the Buffalo Sabres.

Tyler Myers is scheduled to make $22 million next season ($12 million in base salary with a $10 million signing bonus).

Roll it back 24 percent and Tyler Myers will be losing out on $5.28 million.