It's hard to imagine anyone batting an eye at a million-dollar NHL contract these days. But rewind to 1971, and the story was entirely different. Player salaries in professional hockey lagged far behind what athletes in other major sports leagues were pulling in, and the pay scale bore little resemblance to what we see in the modern era — and that goes well beyond simple inflation. All of that shifted on August 26, 1971, when the Boston Bruins inked a groundbreaking deal with Bobby Orr, a contract that would fundamentally transform how NHL players were compensated.
Heading into the deal, Orr had been earning less than $40,000 during the 1970-1971 season — and remarkably, that already made him the highest-paid player in the entire league. But his performance that year told a story that demanded far more: a record-setting 139 points and a fourth consecutive Norris Trophy win. Orr wasn't merely a star; he had become a genuine household name. Recognizing what they had, the Bruins went all in, locking him into a five-year deal worth $200,000 annually — $1 million total — the largest contract the NHL had ever seen. Given an era when athlete pay wasn't remotely close to today's standards, this represented a monumental jump in compensation.
That gamble by the Bruins? It paid dividends almost immediately. Orr powered his team to a Stanley Cup championship in 1972 and racked up more than 100 points in each of the first four years of his contract. A knee injury would unfortunately take a heavy toll on his ice time during the fifth and final season, but even so, he managed to finish as the league's top scorer in the 1974-1975 season. The Bruins had every reason to feel vindicated, and their bold move quickly set a new standard — before long, million-dollar contracts for star players became commonplace across the NHL.