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 Central Division
Chicago Blackhawks – Brent Seabrook
This was widely panned as a horrible contract the day it was signed. It was a classic pay a premium for past performance with no vision for the future and the impact it will have moving forward. Contracts like this can have an impact on the decision makers and while the Seabrook contract is definitely not the sole reason for this move. The Seabrook contract was a variable in the Blackhawks stalling out as a franchise.
Blackhawks Chairman W. Rockwell “Rocky… Wirtz announced today the team has released John McDonough from his role as President and CEO of the organization.
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) April 27, 2020
Like many of Chicago's terrible contracts they will wriggle their way out of trouble with injury designations.
Colorado Avalanche – Erik Johnson
Is Erik Johnson worth his cap hit? No. Does he deserve to be on a list like this? Probably not. This is not unlike the Carolina Hurricanes situation where they just don’t have a lot of bad contracts and Johnson was the candidate making a decent amount of money that I view as lower value compared to the others like MacKinnon, Landeskog, Rantanten, Kadri, and even Sam Girard moving forward. Sorry, Erik. Dallas Stars – Jamie Benn
One of the biggest contracts in the NHL and the player’s value has already has depreciated quite a bit in 2019-20. His 1.37 points per 60 at 5v5 is a far cry from where he is usually hanging out in that ~2.0 range. Benn will be 31 years old at the start of next season and has five more years at a 9.5M AAV. Joe Pavelski is a candidate making 7M for two more years, but when you are talking about five more years at 9.5M with Benn having an off year offensively I couldn’t ignore it.
Minnesota Wild – Zach Parise
Here’s the deal. Parise has been a really good player for a long time. His cap hit (7.538M) is fine in a vacuum. The problem is completely obvious. The cap hit was artificially lowered by giving him a 13 year deal! Now Ryan Suter has one of those as well, but I have to imagine he will age more gracefully than Parise who has missed quite a bit of time due to injury and the fact Parise’s bread and butter is to go to the hard areas of the ice. To put Parise’s contract length into perspective if he had signed an 8 year deal it would be expiring at the end of this season and the contract would have been fine. He has 192 goals and 382 points in 513 games for the Wild. It is on par with his 194 goals and 406 points in 502 games with the Devils. However, Parise didn’t sign for eight years. He still has five more years with every single one of them having a full no movement clause. Oh, and he is going to be 36 at the start of next season.
Nashville Predators – Kyle Turris
This could shift to Matt Duchene in a few years, but for now the Predators are not getting much for their 6M per year investment in Kyle Turris. Turris was a good player in Ottawa and the trade made sense on the surface for Nashville who desperately needed center depth. It just hasn’t worked out and there are still four more years left on his deal. He has failed to hit double digits in goals the past two years for Nashville. Before the virus hit he was playing on the fourth line. I certainly didn’t think Turris would fall off the way he has, but he has.
St. Louis Blues – Justin Faulk
Carolina was swimming in quality defensemen and they were aggressively shopping Faulk as the piece they felt they could do without. The problem with trading for Faulk was the extension he was ultimately due. It hasn’t kicked in yet and it will be 6.5M for the next seven years. It has a full no trade clause for the first five years. The biggest question is did the Blues really need to pay a premium for a right handed defenseman? They already have one of the best in Alex Pietrangelo and Colton Parayko is pretty darn good in his own right. If the Blues are using Faulk as insurance for if Pietrangelo leaves via unrestricted free agency I have some bad news for them. This was a big investment for a luxury item that really isn’t all that luxurious.
Winnipeg Jets – Blake Wheeler
I love Blake Wheeler. He has been a monster for a long time and the only reason he’s here is because of age and term. He will be 34 next year and he will have four more years making 8.25M. Good news is he hasn’t dipped in his production
He is still a high risk candidate for regression. A lot of times I’ll look at the goalie contracts first, but the Jets have one of the best contracts in the league there. The other candidate was Kyle Connor making 7.14M because his underlying defensive numbers tread into the waters of negating his offensive contributions. He is all of 22 years old so there is room to grow before his prime.
Thanks for reading!