In a salary cap league where teams only have so much money at their disposal when it comes to building the perfect team, it is vital that they get the most out of every dollar they spend.
The NHL’s bad contract All-Star team
We could ice a pretty solid six-man unit with good NHL players on awful contracts. Let’s try.
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There are a lot of players in the NHL, oftentimes those signed as free agents, who are playing on less than ideal contracts for their teams.
Some of those players offer minimal value to their team and are nothing more than a drain on their salary cap structure, making it more difficult to build a better team. But others still have something positive to offer and remain useful. They just happen to make a little more money than they probably should.
We could ice a six-man unit -- three forwards, two defensemen, one goalie -- with these players. They’d be as dangerous as any unit in the league, but ... well, again, salary cap. Let’s take a look.
Forwards
Total contract: 13 years, $98 million
Total remaining against salary cap: 11 years, $82.5 million
Here is the thing about Zach Parise: Even though he is no longer the 40-goal, 90-point winger he was in his mid-20s for the New Jersey Devils, he's still one of the most productive forwards in the NHL. Maybe right now, entering the 2014-15 season, his contract is a fair value. But how is it going to look in a few years when he starts to enter his mid-30s and is still raking in more than $7 million a year for his declining years?
That is going to be a problem, and it’s part of the risk that comes with trying to assemble the core of your team through free agency. You’re paying top dollar for a player who already played his best hockey for somebody else. Imagine signing a 30-year-old forward to an 11-year, $82.5 million contract.
Not really all that exciting, is it? That’s what the Wild are facing starting right now.
Total contract: 12 years, $69 million
Total remaining against salary cap: 6 years, $34.5 million
One of the growing list of players who signed a long-term contract in Philadelphia only to later be traded, Mike Richards has been a key part of two Stanley Cups with the Los Angeles Kings. But as his production has declined and his role has diminished, the remaining six years and $34 million are a steep price tag for what he now provides.
Seen as a compliance buyout candidate over the summer, the Kings decided to keep Richards. Still only 29 and a very good defensive player, Richards will have no problem being a useful player in the NHL -- and probably with the Kings -- for several more years.
But that’s a lot of money to pay a guy who was skating on your fourth line in the playoffs, has been down to only 16 minutes of total ice time per game the past two years, and probably isn’t going to regain his top-line offensive ability.
Total contract: 10 years, $60 million
Total remaining against salary cap: 9 years, $54 million
Jordan Staal is the type of forward that every team in the league would love to have. He is a wonderful defensive player and plays big minutes against top competition and plays them very well. But going to Carolina and getting out of the shadow of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin was supposed to give him an opportunity to excel in more of an offensive role. With only 71 points in 130 games over two years, it hasn't quite worked out that way. Over 82 games he's a 45-point, defensive stalwart, and that's a damn valuable player in the NHL. But when you're paying a guy $60 million over a decade, you're probably expecting a bit more offense.
Defense
Brian Campbell, Florida Panthers
Total contract: 8 years, $57.1 million
Total remaining against salary cap: 2 years, $14.2 million
When he was with the Chicago Blackhawks, Brian Campbell's contract was seen as an albatross that the team had no chance of ever getting out from under. Not only did they find a taker in a trade for him (and it just so happened to be Dale Tallon in Florida, the general manager who signed him to the contract in Chicago), but Campbell has always been a very good player and was even a vital cog in the Blackhawks' 2010 championship machine.
Now playing with the Panthers, he doesn’t seem to get anywhere as much attention but remains a productive player who just happens to make a little more money than his skills and production should be worth. If his contract was a little smaller, he might get more recognition for being the very good player that he is.
Total contract: 7 years, $49 million
Total remaining against salary cap: 7 years, $49 million
Two things are true when it comes to Dion Phaneuf and his time with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He plays some of the toughest minutes in the NHL among defensemen. He also does not handle them very well.
And it’s the latter part that makes the seven-year, $49 million contract he signed last season difficult to swallow. In a more sheltered role where he can be a point-producing defenseman, he’s fine. But as a No. 1 defenseman being asked to play in more of a shutdown role, he seems to be a bit overmatched.
Goalie
Roberto Luongo, Florida Panthers
Total contract: 12 years, $64 million
Total remaining against salary cap: 8 years, $42.4 million
This is a deal that could eventually haunt two different teams. In the short term, Roberto Luongo is going to make the Florida Panthers a better team as soon as this season, and it cost them relatively little in terms of assets to acquire him last season from the Vancouver Canucks.
Eventually, though, age is going to catch up with him, and with still eight years and more than $40 million left on his current deal, that is going to be a problem. Goalies do not age well into their mid-to-late 30s, and entering his age-35 season, Luongo’s play is probably going to drop off sooner rather than later (and it has probably already started).
The good news for the Panthers is that when he inevitably retires before his contract expires, it will be the Canucks, and not them, that will be on the hook for most of the cap recapture penalties.
Images via Getty, USA Today
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