Elliotte Friedman speculates who could be NHL's highest paid player, and it's not Connor McDavid

Connor McDavid has long been one of the NHL's top earners; however, that could change soon. On Sunday's episode of the "32 Thoughts" podcast, Elliotte Friedman said that McDavid might not land the biggest deal this time.

The league's salary cap will increase soon, and teams will have more money to spend. This opens the door for some large new contracts.

At the end of the season, Kirill Kaprizov made it clear that he wants to stay with the Minnesota Wild and Friedman believes Kaprizov could become the league’s highest-paid player.

“Kaprizov said all the right things, basically saying, I don't see why this can't work out,” Friedman said. “Let’s keep it optimistic. If he feels that way, then that’s where we’re going to take as our landing point.

"There are people in the league who believe that this will end up being the NHL's highest-paid player in this next wave of contracts,” Friedman said. “With the cap going up over 100 and over 110, who feels that Kaprizov is going to end up being number one on the list?"

Kaprizov has one year left on his deal with the Wild, making $9 million a year. Minnesota will have more cap space next year as the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter will no longer take up as much money.

Kaprizov missed time due to injuries this season, but he played well when healthy. He is arguably the team’s most important player, and the Wild want to keep him long-term.

Connor McDavid might not take the top spot

Connor McDavid is also eligible to sign a new deal soon. He agreed to an eight-year $100 million contract in 2017, which carries a $12.5 million cap hit each season.

Kyle Bukauskas mentioned that McDavid and Kirill Kaprizov are on the same contract timeline.

“As you know, this summer, Connor McDavid could sign an extension as well,” Bukauskas said on Sunday, via '32 Thoughts.'

Elliotte Friedman replied with a story from McDavid’s last contract talks.

“You’ll remember that the conversation last time with McDavid was they walked in, they said, ‘We’re not going to ask for the 20%,’” Friedman said. “The Oilers were like, ‘Thank God, because we would have given it to you.’ And remember, with McDavid too, initially, the contract was supposed to be 13.33 and he’s like, ‘Nah, we’ll go to 12.5.’”

McDavid took less money before to help the Edmonton Oilers, and he might do the same again. If that happens, Kaprizov could end up earning more.