One of my favorite things to do is look at NHL contracts and shake my head in disbelief. There are some horrible contracts in the NHL right now, which isn't uncommon, but in a flat-cap world it's going to bite some teams in the ass sooner rather than later. I'm not saying these five are the worst, but these are five that stuck out to me as pretty bad.
Next to each player's name I have their age, yearly cap hit, as well as how many years after this season remain on the contract.
Erik Karlsson - 30: $11.5M x 6
I've never been a believer in Karlsson, but I'm probably wrong. Actually, I was probably wrong in the past, but this isn't going to go well for the Sharks. Karlsson is already 30 and he's got six years left and an annual cap hit of $11.5M. He's got 13 points this season in 30 games (albiet on a bad Sharks team), a long way from some totals he put up back in Ottawa where he hit 70-80+ points more than once. If he's starting to decline now, and he is, what's this going to look like when he's 36?
Sergei Bobrovsky - 32: $10M x 5
Bobrovsky has been one of the better goalies in the NHL over the past decade, but the Florida Panthers screwed this one up. Goalies are getting better and better these days, and the gap between average, good, and great gloaltenders is closing. To have $10M per year count against the cap for a goalie (you still need to pay a backup) is absurd. That's 12.27 percent of the cap. Not to mention Bobrovsky had a terrible year last year (he's recovered somewhat this season). This was a big mistake and my guess is the Panthers already regret it.
Jeff Skinner - 28: $9M x 6
Buffalo is a mess, and Jeff Skinner stands out as a particularily bad part of a terrible team. He's got a $9M per season cap hit for six seasons after this, which is 11.32 percent of the cap. He's got 3 goals and 1 assist in 31 games. That's criminal. Now, I don't believe for a single second that Skinner, who has scored more than 30 goals a few times, simply forgot how to play. This is likely a combination of a bad team and low confidence, but I doubt we ever see him hit the 30-goal mark again. If - and right now it would be impossible - the Sabers can trade him, maybe he regains some of that confidence with an organization that actually knows what it's doing.
Ryan Suter - 36: $7.5M x 4
Ryan Suter is actually still providing value for the Wild, which is wild itself at 36 years old. He's not providing $7.5M against the cap worth of value, but he's not in the same boat at Jeff Skinner. The problem is, he's historically been a 40-50 point guy, and that's going to drop in the years to come. The final years of this contact, which include a no-movement clause, are going to be painful for the Wild. If they win a Cup, though, all will be forgotten.
John Tavares - 30: $11M x 4
When John Tavares signed with my Leafs a few years ago he was an elite player. He promptly scored 47 goals (a career high) in his first season. He was named captain of the Leafs a year later, but production dipped. Production has dipped a bit this season as well, with Tavares' five-on-five play a concern. He's got 14 of his 28 points on the PP. He's still got a lot of game left, sure, but the signs that his production is going to start to tail off are there, and the cap hit will remain at $11M for another four seasons after this one. Hard to see a way that ends well for the Leafs, who are going to need to try and re-sign Marner and Matthews in a few years, both of who will need to be paid more than Tavares is now. Yikes.
