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NHL players known for their extravagant lives outside the rink

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Gregory Smith/AP

NHL players tend to be far more reserved than their NBL and NFL counterparts. While the ballers are off sipping Armand de Brignac on their yachts in the Caribbean, the hockey players are training every waking hour and don’t have much time for big spending sprees.

But there are a few that buck the trend. And 2 names spring to mind when it comes to lavish spenders from the NHL. Let’s see how these guys manage to loosen the purse strings a little. 

Darius Kasparaitis

While some may say that Darius Kasparaitis’ story is a lesson in how not to manage your money, others would argue that it sounds like he had a great time!

In the early 90s, Kasparaitis was playing for Dynamo Moscow. Earning a lowly $100 per month for his efforts, he was more than interested to hear what New York Islanders had to offer when they came knocking on his door.

His life changed overnight. And he made the trip stateside to pursue his new life with the New York NHL team with a salary and other benefits exceeding $400k a year.

Some people in his position might have squirrelled it all away knowing that hard times could return at any moment. But not Kasparaitis. Not totally, anyway.

Stuffing his pockets with thousands of dollars, he picked up the taste for the finer things. First, he purchased a $4k Versace jacket followed by a $60k BMW and then more designer clothes. Luckily for him, he carried on playing for a few more years and managed to save a little of his $23 million fortune along the way. 

Auston Matthews

Drafted in 2016 by the Toronto Maple Leafs, Auston Matthews is one of the highest-paid players in the NHL. He receives around $$11,640,220 per year for his role. And at the ripe old age of 24, his net worth is over $60 million USD.

He lives in Phoenix, Arizona not far from where his family set up their new lives after moving from California when Matthews was young. And his accommodation doesn’t hold back!

It is quite modest in comparison to other pads. But it certainly has the luxury feel. His palatial crib with 7 hectares of grounds came with a price tag of just over $3 million US. There’s also a guest house attached, because why not, right?

Matthews has a thing for sneakers with a collection so big that he keeps half in Arizona and the other half in Toronto. Some limited edition pairs in the collection are worth several thousand dollars.

He also has a keen eye for watches and started his collection with a Rolex GMT II Pepsi edition. These can fetch anywhere from $20k- to $40k.

After successfully creating some of the best sneaker, clothing and watch collections, Matthews decided it was time to start a car collection too. And this all started with a Porsche 911 GT3 RS. You wouldn’t get much change from $200k for one of these.

Other sponsorship deals

And his wealth looks set to increase with his latest endorsement deal with Bet99 online casino. It’s thought that Matthews is getting a 7-figure windfall for promoting the brand that has an online casino license from the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.

The site started in 2020 thanks to another pro hockey player, Doug Honegger. The online casino features a sportsbook, live casino and a free-to-play site version as well. Other top sites feature over at Casino.xyz where you’ll find reviews, tips and more.

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