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Mario Lemieux - Wayne Gretzky - Mark Messier

In 1989-1990, the Edmonton Oilers won their 5th Stanley Cup in 7 years -- their first one without Wayne Gretzky who was now with the Los Angeles Kings, leading the NHL with 142 points. Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman and Wayne Gretzky were the only NHLers making over a million a year in base salary.

Rank Player NHL Salary ($US) In today's  $  
1 Mario Lemieux $2,500,000 $6,108,333
2 Steve Yzerman $1,800,000 $4,398,000
3 Wayne Gretzky $1,720,000 $4,202,533
4 Chris Chelios $929,500 $2,271,078
5 Mark Messier $837,142 $2,045,416
6 Bryan Trottier $800,000 $1,954,666
7 Marcel Dionne $600,000 $1,466,000
7 Viacheslav Fetisov $600,000 $1,466,000
9 Larry Robinson $550,000 $1,343,833
10 Denis Savard $525,000 $1,282,750
11 Dale Hawerchuk $507,000 $1,238,770
11 Michel Goulet $507,000 $1,238,770
13 Dave Taylor $500,000 $1,221,667
13 Doug Wilson $500,000 $1,221,667
13 Raymond Bourque $500,000 $1,221,667
13 Ron Hextall $500,000 $1,221,667
13 Tim Kerr $500,000 $1,221,667
18 Paul Coffey $450,000 $1,099,500
19 Mike Liut $445,000 $1,087,283
20 Al MacInnis $443,625 $1,083,924
21 Borje Salming $435,000 $1,062,850
22 Mark Howe $425,000 $1,038,417
23 Jari Kurri $422,500 $1,032,308
24 Tomas Sandstrom $410,000 $1,001,767
25 Peter Stastny $405,600 $991,016

 Photo credit: Upper Deck 1990-91