My 10 Picks for Worst NHL Contract 

*sees Abdelkader in the thumbnail* yup that's about right.

I'm a simple man. I work hard. I come home. I crack a beer or joint. And I throw on The Hockey Guy. Great video per usual man

You can't even move Sutter in NHL 18 LOL

Toews and Kane contracts were also that much because they were a thanks for the three cups. And Toews and Kane had the same agent at the time so if Kane's making 10 million Toews has to too

ANDREW LADD???? he'll get 5.5 million for 5 more years! He'll be 33 in december, 22 pts this season. So he is a year older than Eriksson and is signed for 1 more year and has less pts this season....

If Shea Weber retires, it will be Nashville on the Hook for $25 million / years left on contract. So Montreal will be off the hook if he retires before the contract is up.

The whole red wings team

I remember when there was no ads on your videos. Then there was one, then two and now four. I thought wow that's great, really moving up in the world.

Lol from reading the comments you could make this into a 10 part video series

Luongo's contract is being split by Vancouver and Florida making it a total cap hit of 5.33 Mil per season

In Montreal we also have Alzner, 4.625M cap hit until 21-22. Terrible contract. The guys is often heathly scratch.

Like the list but I would switch Weber’s contract with Bobby Ryan! When Shea Weber is not injured he can still bring a lot to a team example leadership & scary presence but Bobby Ryan even when he is not injured, he has difficulty playing a impact role on any line

As a Devils fan we are all still salty about losing Parise. But I think we lucked out long term not signing him to that.

Yep detroit has some bad ones when you pay a little too much or a little too many years for everyone you get in trouble

*Hope he doesn't mention a Flyer* *Doesn't mention a Flyer* *Sigh of relief* *Continue living in my happy bubble*

As he mentioned, the Wings are in cap hell with Abdelkader, Helm, Neilsen, Dekeyser, and Ericsson.

2 years later for most of these teams these contracts are luckily looking alot better

Weber had been injured/no benefit for 2 yrs.. But now he is back - makes a big impact!!

I know Andrew Ladd was an honorable mention, but he definitely deserves to be top 10 on this list. He's been miserable for the Islanders through nearly two seasons and he has five more seasons left at 5.5 million per. Has to be one of the worst contracts in the NHL.

As a Wings fan and Michigan Native the Wings give out terrible contracts all the time. They always put class and personal relationships first which is what makes them one of the best organizations in sports. Abdelkader is a Michigan Native and is from the same town as I am. They drafted him. Right after he won the NCAA championship with Michigan State Abs joined the wings in the 2008 Stanley cup playoffs. He brought it to the elementary school we both went to! As for his contract he is a huge part of their organization and locker room, and gives solid 3rd line minutes, pk, hits and fights. They invested heavily in him as a person, I see why you'd question but I stand by it.

Great video! You should review this list at season’s end to see who’s reviving and who’s rotting and then revise for 2019-20. Luongo’s low cap hit makes it bearable even as a backup/1b. That said, he’s still a genuine no. 1 in 18-19 so maybe he’ll renegotiate for more next year. Haha 😆

Love your Channel. Thanks for your toughts. I'm a Habs fan and have no problem with the Carey Price contract. 31 teams in the nhl, about only 20 of them have a #1 goalie. Teams must now gives great money to their #1 netminder

No Patrik Berglund? God I’m so glad the Blues got Buffalo to bite on that deal. O’ Reilly is a major improvement over that bum.

I love your videos and the way you explain everything in my opinion it's better analysis than the major sports networks

The Hockey Guy on why he chose these contracts as the worst 10: "That if a GM is calling me and saying 'Hey I want to trad e this guy and he said, he'll waive his no movement clause to come over and work with you guys, do you want him?' - that I would just quietly hang the phone up and say 'well if he calls back I'm not here' " - Ha Ha HA!!! Love it!

Pistons are paying Josh Smith more than 5 million a year until 2020 yet he hasn't played there since 2014. Tigers are paying Justin Verlander 8 million a year until 2019 and he won a championship with Houston last year. Detroit just doesn't do big business well. Don't even get me started on how the Lions wasted Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson 🙃 I don't agree with Justin Abdelkader being on there though, yes he doesn't put up huge numbers but he puts his body on the line, he embodies Detroit.✊ On the other hand I haven't finished this list but Jimmy Howard's contact ALWAYS irked me💩 Great vids!

That is a crazy list. Why would a GM signed a contract with a player for 13 years..oh my!!! Doesn't that kill a lot of a teams cap space. Nice jersey by the way.

Not a Pens fan here, but I think Kris Letang's contract deserves a mention. Letang has slowed down greatly since signing that $58M deal (coincidence that Letang wears #58 too?), notably his injury woes since then. He may have won back-to-back Cups with the Pens, but he was a non-factor during the first run, and then there was his reputation as a turnover machine that really cost them a chance to three-peat this year. The term and the NTC will make either buying him out or trading him difficult, so unless a miracle happens, the Pens are stuck with that albatross contract of his.

I'm watching this in 2024 and the fact almost half of these deals have not concluded yet is mind blowing.

The suter contract is not that bad. His game isn't built around speed or offence (like Weber), plus he is never injured. If the coaches man up and start limiting his ice time he could easily continue to play in the top 4 throughout the contract.

Wth no Matt Moulson?

I don't think you should've put Kris Russel on the list, but you should've at least gave him an honourable mention. Milan Lucic was brought over, and of course he was expected to score. But his two main roles were 1. Protect McDavid and 2. Be the big man on the PP. Chialleri was scared shitless after McDavid got the collarbone to injury, so much so they went from the wusses of the league to being top 3 in hits last year. People won't agree with me on this, but if McDavid doesn't have another serious injury by then end of the 5 years Lucic has left you could argue it was a success. He's wondered a little on the PP, but that can fixed in the offseason. He is also very dedicated, and has said he will try to lose 15 lbs in the offseason, remember his bone density is 11, the average hockey players is 8. That's it going to be easy to achieve in about 3 1/2 months, but I believe he cans do it from how dedicated he is. Russel is payed 4 million for the next 3 years to block shots.

Carey Price doesn't deserve to be on this list, Shea Weber different story. The thing about Shea Weber alot of people don't know is if he retires before the contract is over, Nashville is 100% on the hook for cap hit. This entire segment is based on there being no major changes after the next CBA is negotiated as well. Willing to bet teams will get let off the hook again by being allowed to buyout players with no penalty.

Rick dipetro guy is getting paid 1.5 million tell 2028 2029 according to capfriendly

Surprised not to see Ryan Callahan

I think Andrew Ladd for the New York Islanders should be number 1

I don't get why you think Weber is a worst contract than Ryan At least when Weber is healthy, he is a number 1 defensmen. Even healthy, Bobby Ryan is now barely a top 6 forward!

Hey Shannon, not about this vid, but sorry I haven’t been as active on your channel lately I have a lot going on and don’t have as much time I did before. So watching all your videos everyday is hard but I do when I can. ;) keep working hard, we still all appreciate it.

Toews is pretty overpaid too imo, he is a good captain but I think 7-8 mil a year is plenty for him

Diehard Detroit fan here. I've loved Abby since 07 when he first debuted in the playoffs, he's a good leader, and his grit helps a lot, but his contract just doesn't make sense. We're supposed to be rebuilding right now. It seems like the organization has trouble letting veteran guys go just because they've been here forever. Don't even get me started on the Johnathon Ericsson deal though. He should've been number 1 on this list.

So Loui Eriksson is better than Seabrook ,Lucic now? The cap hits are close and I would take both over Loui.

I'm not worried about Luongo's contract. I expect he'll go on LTIR before retiring. He seems smart enough to know that the penalty isn't worth it to the Canucks for him just to retire. Plus, he is playing in his "home" market so I just don't see the incentive to retire, even if he regresses into being a really bad backup. The shocking thing with Luongo is that he is still putting up pretty good numbers on a so/so team, so it's easy to think, right now, that he could go on for two years, if not, maybe 3. But it'll be a year to year thing. If anything, Luongo will be placed on LTIR with some sort of groin injury instead of retiring and that's just my thinking. Great video, btw!

I agree about contracts where goalies make these really high amounts. The so called "elite" goaltenders rarely win the Stanley Cup. A lot of that is because they are sucking up so much salary that they team can't put together a team in front of them. Case in point, Lundquist. His game is on the downward decline, he is 35, and the Rangers just had a fire sale. They are now rebuilding and he is 35. You are looking at another hall of fame player that never had a championship.

Excellent analysis!! ...keep the great videos coming.

For 10.5M I'd take Price over Toews each and every day of the week.

I know this is an old video, but I think the Caps might have the highest paid top 4 defensemen. Carlson $8 mil, Niskanen $5.3 mil, Orlov $5.1 mil, and Kempny $2.5 mil. That's a total of $20.9 mil between the 4 defensemen

You should do a new one of these!

I was kind of hoping Alexei Yashin would be worth a mention, but I think this is centered around current contracts rather than Worst contracts in NHL history...

In my mind a great goalie is like a great QB or a great Pitcher... It's the position in hockey where you can have a bad game and you automatically lose. So when you have one that is consistently great you need to give him what he wants. Here's a list of goal tenders that brought average teams to a Stanley cup that I can remember and I am not saying winning one ether just getting there. Hasek, Roy, Luongo, Vanbiesbrouck, Tim Tomas, Giguere

Just watched your vid about Luongo's retierment today. So you were right about that contract, from the time you made this vid, he only lasted 1 more season before retiring. So 3 more years of cap hit for Canucks/Panthers. Not a huge cap hit, but enough that you could have got a depth player or two with it. Hall of Fame goaltender, but not a very good contract in retrospect.

I'm okay as a wild fan with the suter contract because he is an elite defenseman, I hate the parise contract though

The Devils were close to giving ZP a similar contact but he chose to go to the Wild. Kind of glad he did with that contract.

Before you get to #1 it must be Parise

I thought DiPietro's contract would be on this list. It was bought out but he still makes 1.5 million annually until 28-29 season.

Luongo is going onto LTIR in the next 2 years for the last couple years just like Hossa. The NHL will never push that rule from the NHL, there would be lawsuits up the yayooo, unless they have to do it to Weber, etc. and if Weber happened to retire the last season, Nashville will be hit with something like 20 mill cap hit that season essentially ruining them.

Ik they’re performing well now, but Vlasic/Burns?

Please do most expensive top 4 d units?

As a Wings fan, I am sad to say that Abdelkader's contract is not an issue just term-wise, but also from the cap hit perspective. It might be only over four, but he does not deserve that many. Neither does Helm deserves his. Or Nielsen. Or Ericsson. I think Nielsen is a relatively solid 3rd line center. Ericsson might be alright for minors. Helm is 4th line at best Abdelkader is third line. You do not pay your third line center over five million. You do not pay your 4th line wing 3.9 or whatever it is Helm has. If there was not for these contracts, Wings could have maybe gotten someone nice on July 1st. De Haan would be a solid and much needed addition (it would be hard to convince him to come to Detroit, but still). The way it is now, there is some pain still to endure.

JOHAN FRANZEN, Danny DeKeyser, Darren Helm, Gustav Nyquist, Ken Holland

I 100% agree with Carey Price, I was hoping you had the ball to put him on there :D

Good lord look at all of that financial security XD Great for them, but man those contracts make my head spin.

"good / bad" contracts depend on perspective (*these "best/worst contract videos" are from the owners' point of view) ...so the "worst contracts" = bad for ownership (wasted cap space) / good for players (overpaid for underperformance) & "best contracts" = good for ownership (value, return on investment) / not necessarily great for players (underpaid for overperformance)...

I expected #1 to be TJ Oshie. 8Y/$68M cap is not good, especially when one is 30 YRS. old.

Can you make a video about the way teams manipulate contracts so that once players get too old to contribute, they just go on "LTIR" and their cap hit no longer counts? Hossa, for example. That's what will happen with Oshie, Weber, Keith, Seabrook, etc.

Troy Brouwer?

The numbers youre listing are players cap hit, not salary. Price is making $15,000,000 this year and Shea Weber is set to make $6,000,000 the next 4 seasons before it becomes 50% or less in the back 4 years of his deal. The value of actual salary for the last 8 years is $30,000,000 total. This is an important distinction you sort of went around in explaining the purpose of Philadelphia offering this contract.

I disagree with luongo being that high, if he has two more good years than it would only be 2 years at 4.5 that he isnt worth... thats a bad contract but not devastatingly so

Every individual penny that eriksson makes deserves a spot on this list

You Can put almost the entire Detroit Roster on that list.

Kinda surprised Brent Burns isn't on this list - 32 years old, $8M, ends after 24-25. He's fine as a d-man in my opinion, but he's the same age as Seabrook and it's 1.125M more per year for two more years.

Carey Price, Shea Weber and Ryan Suter aren’t that bad if contracts. Price has been carying us for years and the cap is constantly going up. Weber’s cap hit will be held by Nashville when he retires. Weber plays a smart game and will play for a long time like Chara, maybe even longer since he hits less Habs have a tone of cap space and will for a while (until they need to resign their 3rd ovr pick if he pans out). Another great comment by a Wild fan explains why Suter’s contract isn’t that bad.

you should divide your board in half and have the nhl network's top 20 list on one side and then do your list on the other and compare.

90% of the Canucks' main roster

I think Carey Price should have been number one.

Seabrook's Contract better be on this

What about Zach Bogosian?

No Marc Staal?

1. Eriksson

Krejci and Backes for sure!

Cap hit only into effect on retiring players within five years of deal and retirement I believe. So if Parise retires in a couple years, we off the hook on him. And he just may. Injuries are piling up and im almost guaranting he has a permanent spot in Wild FO as long as he wants. He's from MN and we are fond of nepotism in MN hockey in general

Ryan Callahan for Tampa is on an expensive contract but has not produced much especially for being a former captain not to mention always injured

If Seabrook is on there, Duncan Keith should be too

Jonathan Toews 10,5 mil 2022-2023

Note to GMs: Stay away from UFA market, sell anyone on expiring contract about to become UFA, draft & develop, don't overpay your RFAs. Easy in theory, hard in practise...

You were right, Panthers vs Lighting was a great game.

Toews and Kane got their contract from what they accomplished. Kane's contract is still worth it. However Toews got overpaid

That's the problem with doing a list like this is people let how much they like a player influence their view of being smart financially.. likeable player or not a bad contract is still a bad contract.. Nashville is still laughing about that Shea Weber Trade..

What even happened to Lucic? Such a strange time for production to drop off like it has for him. You have guys like Bergeron and Marchand peaking in their early-mid thirties and Lucic shits the bed at 28?

Well Carey Price just single handedly carried the Habs to the Stanley Cup finals and the Habs are now last in the whole league without him. I'd say he's worth the money...

Andy McDonald would look great as a top 2 and possible Captain on that new Seattle team, They'll have to get to the cap floor somehow.

If you take the team into account the Luongo deal isn't bad. Florida can reach the floor while only actually paying like $1 million

No Marc Staal? 5 million for 4 more years as a 7th D?

Can I ask how it makes any sense that you have Ryan Suter at #2 and Sea Webber at number #4?.. when Webber get slightly more money anual average and it's for a longer term? Especially since Ryan Suter is still amazing and Webber is not the same player anymore already... Please explain?

no andrew macdonald?

Yeah. Looch @ 6 mil instead of Taylor Hall, Sekera @ 5.5, Kris Russell @ 4, Drai @ 8.5, McD @ 12.5 (no reason to overpay your RFAs Chia, just look at Barkov @ 5.9, Scheifele @ 6.1). Edmonton won't win the SC during McD & Drai time because of these bloated contracts.

Hey at least the Wild are winning something. But honestly the Parise-Suter contract is very defensible because at the time it brought the franchise out of the basement of the league and to relative respectability but the term is just insane

Interesting. The GM's like spending other people's money.. They won't be around.. So someone else's problem.. Much like govt/politicians. Good review.. And yes, Price $ definitely looks nuts!

Hockey dude maps it out so well and puts the legit #1 at #9. Carey Price does not have the energy to get out of bed on many days. But the habs will pay him $10.5 million per year for a very long time. While we're at it, let's mention the team that is least likely to win even one stanley cup in the next 100 years: the Montreal Canadiens. Bad things happen when you limit who can be your head coach and GM to guys that speak french. There's regular levels of incompetence and then there's MADE IN QUEBEC level incompetence. LOL

macdonald?

I dunno why people keep bringing up Toews and Kane's contract, they're paid for the hardware they already brought in to Chicago. I'd gladly pay any duo $15M each if they win 3 Stanley Cups.