This is nothing new ... professional athletes have always been put on a pedestal and paid ridiculous amounts of money .. its no one else's fault but our own (fans) of sports , even if we don't pay to go see a sporting event we may watch it on TV or buy some merchandise and that pays part of their salaries
Soccer , race car drivers, basketball , football , they all get way more money than hockey players .. I won't lose any sleep if Marner or Nylander dont' sign because he is not making an extra million on his contract.
What gets me is that we have doctors at sick kids hospital that save lives everyday and will not see an 11 million/ yr paycheck, but our society puts a different value on sports athletes.