The NHL is a league known for being old as shit and thinking old as shit. Grit, heart, Mark Messier and going ‘hard in the corner’ matter most. There has only recent been a league-wide shift towards favoring athletes who know how to play hockey and away from guys that know how to tough. That shift has seen the league – or at least people that follow the league – to identify a younger ‘prime’ for players than previously thought.
Of course it isn’t true of everyone, but generally speaking a player will peak between the ages 22-25, because of course. Who wasn’t at their best in their early twenties? After that it’s all tv dinners and family reunions, fuck. So, I want to look at some of the worst active player contracts in the league. Counting down to #1, the shitty award…I guess.Here goes:
Jonathan Toews (also Anze Kopitar, but whatever)
8 years, $84 million (ends 2022-23)
I am not going to pretend that Jonathan Toews is not an elite player. He is, he has all of the accolades to support that. He will also probably be that player for a long time. He is smart with and without the puck and doesn’t put himself in dangerous positions. So, then what is the problem?
Jonathan Toews has the highest cap-hit in the NHL (shared with the rapist Patrick Kane) and he has only one 70 point season and was a point-per-game player only once…..over a lockout shortened 48 game season.
He is good, he is great even. Where would the Blackcocks Blackhawks be without him? Who knows. But, there is no excuse for his cap-hit/point production ratio. I like Toews, but at best he is $7 million dollar player.
Replace ‘Toews’ with ‘Kopitar’ and you can remain a happy Blackhawks fan.
Corey Perry
8 years, $69 (nice) million (ends 2020-21)
Corey Perry is old. He has an 8 year, $69 (nice) million dollar contract and his point totals have been falling for a number of years now. It shouldn’t come as a surprise either. He’s 32 years old, and 32 year olds suck at stuff.
The biggest problem is that this guy has 4 more years of sub-standard play before his contract is over, and by that time Anaheim (let’s not kid ourselves, only an asshole would trade for this guy) will owe him $7 million bucks.
His last contract was worth about $5.5 million AAV and that was enough.
Bobby Ryan
7 years, $50.75 million (ends 2021-22)
Bobby Ryan’s best days are behind him. He hasn’t touched 60 points in 7 years. For a scoring forward, that’s bad. For a scoring forward that makes $7 million per year, that’s unforgivable. It isn’t the player’s fault, if some idiot wants to give you a bunch more money than you’re worth, why wouldn’t you take it?
But, honestly, this is just bad and not going to get better.
The problem is in 2010 when he signed his first big money contract is exactly the last time he touched 70 points. After that’s it’s been big money and decreasing goal totals.
It’s either a perfect example of a player being in his prime for a rookie contract, or a guy that stopped playing when the superstar contract was signed.
Dustin Brown (Also, David Clarkson, Dave Bolland, David Backes….stop letting Dave’s play hockey)
8 years, $47 million (ends 2021-22)
This one was bound to be on the list. People talk about it like they talk about gonorrhea, EVERYBODY fears it, nobody wants it, and yet somehow, it manages to exist.
Truth be told, Dustin Brown has never been anything more than a good 3rd line producer. But, he plays with grit and he’s tough and…hearty? So, apparently he is a leader that leads and deserves some big money. God forbid, he put up big leadership points on another team.
Brown scored 60 points once in his career, in 2007-08 and hasn’t touched 40 since 2011-12. The hope is that Vegas takes him in the expansion draft to reach the cap floor, but that won’t excuse this massive dumpster fire of a contract. Which, by the way, he signed in 2014-15, coming off of a 27 (TWENTY SEVEN) point season.
It also goes on for another 4 seasons.
Shea Weber
14 years, $110 million (ends 2025-26)….(wtf)
Shea Weber shoots hard and leads. A pretty common trait for these bad contracts. But, this one is more because Shea Weber is old balls. He makes SO much money.
$12 million dollars salary, for a guy that is 31, regressing and barely good for 40 points.
Ok, so point production does not define a defenseman. But sweet fuck, for $12 million dollars, he better do roof repairs on the Centre de Bell.
It’s true, this contract is being highlighted because of the terrible Subban trade. But good, he couldn’t hide forever in Nashville. This was an offer-sheet from Philadelphia and between Ron Hextall and David Poile, someone needs their head smacked…..
Ron Hextall terrifies me, so Poile it is.
Guys that got a free pass on this include: Claude Giroux, Patrick Marleau, Jordan Eberle, Loui Eriksson, Ben Bishop and Rick Nash
Hard in the Corner 