I went through the entire league division by division to list the bad contracts each team has. It is only fair if I comb through once again to find all the good contracts each team has. Some things I will be looking at include the age of the player. Does this team have the player locked in for the prime years (24-26)? If not, does the term of the contract stay within a reasonable time frame for the player to be productive (different players are going to age better than others). What is the likelihood of the team predominately paying for past performance? What kind of contract are they on? I will not be including ELC deals on this for obvious reasons. Those contracts are artificially low and thus not eligible. These are just some of the things I’ll be looking at.
So far I've gone through the Metropolitan Division and the Atlantic Division.
The contract you voted as best in the Atlantic was David Pastrnak with 54% of the vote and it is tough to disagree with the result. He's awesome. Aleksander Barkov was the runner up. You'll have the chance to vote for the best contract in the Central Division today at the bottom. Let's take a look at the candidates I've picked.
Chicago Blackhawks - Patrick Kane
Not a lot of options. He’s older with some term, but he’s still really good. Jonathan Toews had a good season this year, but he’s had a few too many “down… years to be confident about the term left on his deal when compared to Patrick Kane who has been very consistent over the years. I think he’s got three more left. Duncan Keith isn’t the player he was anymore so he isn’t a candidate.
Colorado Avalanche - Nate MacKinnon
This is the best contract in the NHL for a team. It is laughable. What was Pat Brisson doing here? MacKinnon is a Hart candidate in recent years and is electric to watch on the ice. This is the easiest selection I’ll make for any team, but it comes on a team full of great contract values. The Avalanche are well set up for the future to maximize the steal they have in MacKinnon who will only make 6.3M in each of the next three seasons.
Dallas Stars – John Klingberg
Like the Washington Capitals a lot of these contracts are built for the now and not to last. Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, Joe Pavelski, and Alex Radulov are all paying for past performance even at the moment. I thought about Ben Bishop here because he’s been great, but betting on 33 year old goalies is a risk. The safe pick is John Klingberg who was OK this past season, but really good the year before. At 4.25M he doesn’t necessarily have to be really good, but I like the chances of him doing so next year. Minnesota Wild – Eric Staal
There’s a lot of bad on this roster as far as contracts go. This team was built for a win now in the present and the window came and went without the team making a dent. Even though there is only one year left on the deal with Staal it is by far their best contract. All the other players on the team are slightly overpaid or flat out overpaid and have a ton of term into their thirties. I was going to select Spurgeon here, but then I realized he is already 30 years old (for real?!) and his contract takes him to 37 years old. Bill Guerin has his hands full.
Nashville Predators – Filip Forsberg
This team had some of the craziest value on contracts in the league very recently, but guys like Roman Josi and Ryan Elllis finally got their pay bumps they deserve and they also got a lot of term to take them into their mid-thirties. Forsberg at 6M for another two years is a great value. He’s their best goal scoring forward on the team and has been for a number of years.
Mattias Ekholm deserves a mention as well. He has two more years at 3.75M and has been great for the team. It is also a great value. Ultimately, scoring goals is the toughest thing to do in the sport and I went with the goal scorer in his prime.
St. Louis Blues – Ryan O’Reilly
He’s a playoff MVP and a Selke Trophy winner. He only makes 7.5M and he totally decimated an entire franchise by leaving it. The Buffalo Sabres may never recover during the Jack Eichel era because of the horrible deal they made to move O’Reilly. ROR’s departure left a huge gaping hole in Buffalo’s center depth they are still struggling to fill. When you talk about 200 foot players Ryan O’Reilly is a prime example. O’Reilly’s contract will take him to age 32, but I have no reservations about his caliber of play for the next three years.
Winnipeg Jets – Connor Hellebuyck
Connor Hellebuyck must be a great goalie to overcome my goalie bias in relation to contracts. Hellebuyck is probably going to win the Vezina Trophy this year which could have been his second as he finished runner up to Pekka Rinne in 2018. His 6.166M contract is great for a goalie and is one of the few goalie contracts that has proper term and a good contract value. It is a rare thing for this league. His remaining four years on his deal will be his 27, 28, 29, and 30 year old seasons. The caliber of player, the cap hit, and the term is all great. When you can hit the trifecta it is pretty nice.
High honorable mention to Mark Scheifele What a player. He makes 6.125M and it is a steal. While he isn’t directly in his prime years anymore he is still a phenomenal player. The current deal takes him to the age of 31 which should be no problem considering how good Schiefele is. It’s a real shame the Jets didn’t make more noise when they were loaded up to do so.
Thanks for reading!