Over the next few blogs I am going to take a look at some of the worst contracts each team in the league has, poison contracts if you will. Some teams have some really bad ones and could have multiple examples and some teams really aren’t in bad shape. I’m going to pick one from each team as we go division by division.
Today is the Atlantic Division
Boston Bruins – Charlie Coyle
Coyle isn’t a bad player right now. The Bruins are in their win now window. They traded David Backes and somehow landed Ondrej Kase so the former obvious answer isn’t around anymore. The reason for Coyle is his age (28 at the moment) and his 5.25M AAV contract doesn’t kick in until next year. It is six years long. Coyle is middle depth and it is quite a premium to pay and expect the aging curve won’t bite hard.
Torey Krug might have a spot here next year.
Buffalo Sabres – Kyle Okposo
Okposo is a fourth line player at this stage, albeit on a line with good underlying numbers. It does not justify the 6M he is going to make the next three seasons. Okposo is an example of Terry Pegula’s hubris as an owner. He thought he could come in and just spend a ton of money and turn Buffalo in Hockey Heaven. Spoiler, it didn’t work. The Sabres haven’t made the playoffs in a full season since he came on as owner. Okposo’s deal falls in line with the Matt Moulson and Ville Leino contracts Pegula green lighted. The good news for Okposo is that he will still get paid unlike many of Pegula’s employees who have been laid off or furloughed. It isn’t a shot at Okposo, good for him. It is a shot at a tone deaf and directionless owner.
I thought about going with Jeff Skinner here, but his usage has been atrocious. He doesn’t get power play time and does not get put on the ice in high leverage situations nearly enough. He never plays with Eichel despite having terrific results with him. His struggles are usage based so I gave him a pass.
Detroit Red Wings - Justin Abdelkader
One of Ken Holland’s great parting gifts among many. Abdelkader signed his deal in 2016 and since then hasn’t done much. Up until this season he also has had a full no trade clause as if his play wasn’t a built in one. Last year he had 19 points in 73 games and this year he had three, yes three, points in 49 games. Points aren’t everything, but Abdelakder wasn’t exactly doing anything positive in other areas either.
Abdelkader has three more years on his deal. At least it is a modified NTC now.
Florida Panthers – Sergei Bobrosvky
Well, yeah. Goaltender contracts are the worst. Bobrovsky has six more years at 10M left on the deal. His first year in South Florida was embarrassingly bad and he probably cost them a playoff spot. Out of the 34 goalies who played 1,500 minutes this year he ranked 30th in 5v5 save percentage at .907. He ranks 31s in goals saved above average at – 13.8. Bobrovsky will be 32 when next season starts. Do I think he can play better next year? Yes I do. However, this contract was always going to be terrible by the end of it and they already burned one of the “good… years of the contract with him playing like it is the end of the deal. Woof.
Montreal Canadiens – Carey Price
I thought about Shea Weber but Montreal isn’t on the hook quite like Nashville is with an early retirement. Which is a really weird and stupid thing about this CBA. Paying goaltenders big money is rarely a good idea. Paying them a premium (10.5M) and then term (8 years) after the age of 30 is stupid. The Canadiens should have moved on from Price because they aren’t a Cup contender with him now and they won’t be a Cup contender bleeding 10.5M in salary cap space later when Price totally flat lines. The deal has a full movement clause not that I think the Seattle brass would be interested in his services anyways with the bloated contract in both money and term. Ottawa – Nikita Zaitsev
He is a below replacement level player and he is signed for four more years at 4.5M. Bobby Ryan only has two years left on his deal and why he wasn’t the choice here. Colin White isn’t on a great deal, but at least he showed a pulse in 2018-19. The Zaitsev thing is made worse by the fact the Senators will probably shoe horn him in a role way above what he is capable of. Tampa Bay Lightning – Ryan McDonagh
I am not in love with the Vasilevskiy deal, but at least he is in the prime of his career and by the time his contract is over he will be 33 years old aka year 3 of those other goalie contracts I mentioned.
McDonagh is going to make 6.7M for another six years and has already shown signs of slowing down.
They are going to give him big minutes and he is going to have to bounce back for it to be worth it. He will be 31 years old at the start of next year so he is running out of time to play at a high level and last year wasn’t a good one. It is necessary for Tampa Bay to maximize every dollar they spend. This might be an area of concern sooner than later. He also has a full no trade clause until 2024-25. Toronto Maple Leafs – Auston Matthews
Not for the reasons you think. He is one of my favorite players in the league and there are very few players I think more highly of than Matthews. The issue here is his term for opposite reason I usually pick players for this distinction. His term is too short. I think it was a great move by Matthews to line up another pay day at age 26. It isn’t a great idea for the Maple Leafs. He is going to command huge money and it is likely many of his best seasons will be played already. The Leafs will have the choice of massively overpaying for future performance or lose an enormous piece of their team. They will be between a rock and a hard place at that time. The Leafs should have done what they needed to in order to give Matthews an eight year deal even if his cap was above McDavid’s.
Thanks for reading!