Are Russians the Highest-Paid Goalies in the NHL?

Abstract

Twenty years after Glasnost, Russians in the National Hockey League (NHL) are now among the highest-paid goaltenders. Of the 89 NHL goalies who played at least one game in the 2008–09 season, over 33% were born outside North America (and 4.6% of the total were from either Kazakhstan or Russia). A few years after Glasnost, there was evidence that Russian-born NHL players were underpaid (see Austin et al., IAER, 1998). Salaries (in thousands of U.S. dollars) at the start of the 2008–09 season of all NHL goalies who played at least 10 games in the 2007–08 season were regressed on goals against average (GAA) [equal to goals against multiplied by 60 and then divided by the goalie’s minutes on the ice], the number of seasons (Seasons) played through 2007–08 (again, with a minimum of 10 games played in each season), and the number of seasons squared (Seasons). Ethnicity was initially broken down into four regional categories: Canadian, American, European, and Russian. Salary data are from www.nhlpa.com and players’ profiles are from www.nhl.com. Goalies receive significantly higher salaries for a lower GAA (p=.001) and experience, namely, the number of seasons played. [The coefficients on Seasons and Seasons, 1,293.9 (p< .001) and -60.44 (p= .001), respectively, suggest @Salary=@Seasons 1⁄4 0 when Seasons=10.7 or that compensation rises for the first 11 years in a goaltender’s NHL career.] European-born goalies receive, on average, Int Adv Econ Res (2010) 16:132–133 DOI 10.1007/s11294-009-9239-2