Well ok and who says that they are entitled to millions anyway? I'm just pissed because frankly if I'm a player with an NMC for 6 years what incentive do I have to even try at my job? If you were making 8 million dollars for 6 years at your job, wouldn't you just be incentivized to go through the motions? All I can think of is internal competitiveness and pride. But not every player has that.
At a simple level, the market says they are. Because if the NHL said "you guys aren't worth it" and stopped paying so highly, someone else would come in and offer the big bucks because they know they'd be able to get the players to come and play for them.
Every player is different, but the incentive usually comes from wanting to be 'the best' where $$ is the by-product of what you are doing. I half-arse my job right now (I spend half my work day talking shit on here) and I certainly don't get paid millions; but in a competitive industry, where I care and want to prove myself, and I love the challenge, then of course I'm working hard even when paid.
High performance industries tend to work differently to the more regular 9-5ish ones.
And yes, some players will have less compete than others (while still having far more than most people, you don't get to the top level of something like professional sport without it), and some will eventually rest on their laurels, but that's the nature of the beast
