If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the years it’s that you’re not guaranteed to get the most out of a player just because you throw a lot of money at them.
Take last season for example. The Calgary Flames signed James Neal to a 5-year, $28.75 million deal on July 2, while the St. Louis Blues signed Patrick Maroon to a 1-year, $1.75 million deal eight days later. The Flames got seven goals and 19 points out of Neal in 63 games before sending him to the Edmonton Oilers nearly one year later, while the Blues got 10 goals and 28 points out of Maroon in 74 games and captured their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.
Since the summer of 2009 there have been a lot of massive contracts handed out to past and present NHL players. Some worked, others didn’t, so we’re showcasing the ones that failed.
July 1, 2009 – Florida Panthers sign David Booth to a 6-year, $25.5 million deal
After scoring just three goals in 48 games in 2006-07, David Booth came out firing the next season scoring 22 goals in 73 games and followed that up with 31 goals in 2008-09. As a result, the Panthers re-signed Booth to a massive deal later that summer, but Booth’s career was never the same after a concussion suffered that season.
The Detroit, Michigan native ended up playing 116 games with the Panthers over the next three seasons and scored just 31 goals. Booth was then traded to the Vancouver Canucks during the 2011-12 season and was bought out by the team in 2014.
September 3, 2010 – New Jersey Devils sign Ilya Kovalchuk to 15-year, $100 million deal after NHL blocks 17-year, $102 million deal earlier that summer
Just about every hockey fan thought the New Jersey Devils were crazy for this one and those fans ended up being right at the end of it all.
Sure, Kovalchuk produced for the Devils during his time in New Jersey, but he only ended up playing the next three seasons with the team before departing for the KHL. Fast forward five years and now he’s back in the NHL and on the Los Angeles Kings’ payroll at $6.25 million per year over three years.
July 1, 2011 – Florida Panthers sign Ed Jovanovski to a 4-year, $16.5 million deal
JovoCop was the first overall pick in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft and was a feared defenceman during his NHL career, but when the Florida Panthers decided to bring him back at more than $4 million per season at the age of 35 there were a lot of raised eyebrows. Unfortunately for Jovanovski and the Panthers, the Windsor, Ontario native only played 109 games over the next seasons, scoring just four goals and 15 points, before calling it a career.
July 1, 2011 – Buffalo Sabres sign Ville Leino to a 6-year, $27 million deal and Christian Ehrhoff to a 10-year, $40 million deal
This was a summer to forget for the Buffalo Sabres’ front office because both of these contracts did not work out well.
Leino ended up playing 137 games over three seasons and scored just 10 goals, including 0 in 58 games in 2013-14, while Ehrhoff played just three seasons with the team before he was bought out. Leino is still owed $1.2 million for one more season, while Ehrhoff will be paid $857,143 per year until the 2027-28 campaign.
July 1, 2012 – Anaheim Ducks sign Sheldon Souray to a 3-year, $11 million deal
Sheldon Souray was a physical defenceman with one heck of a blast from the point, but unfortunately for Ducks fans they only got one season’s worth of the Elk Point, Alberta native. Souray scored 7 goals and 17 points in 44 games in his first season in Anaheim, but had to call it a career due to injuries.
July 4, 2012 – Vancouver Canucks sign Jason Garrison to a 6-year, $27.6 million deal
The Vancouver Canucks were the victims of a contract-year on this signing. Garrison broke out during the 2011-12 campaign, scoring 16 goals in 77 games, which led to a big payday that following summer.
This signing wasn’t a complete bust, but it definitely didn’t work out the way the Canucks were hoping. As a result, the White Rock, BC native scored 15 goals over the next two seasons before he was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
July 23, 2012 – Florida Panthers are at it again after signing Kris Vertseeg to a 4-year, $17.6 million deal
Kris Vertseeg had an outstanding season in his first year with the Florida Panthers as he scored 23 goals and 54 points in 71 games and the team rewarded him in a big way. Unfortunately, that was the last time Versteeg would hit the 20-goal mark in his career and went on to score just four goals over the next two seasons before he was traded back to the Chicago Blackhawks.
July 5, 2013 – Toronto Maple Leafs sign David Clarkson to a 7-year, $36.75 million deal
A lot of Maple Leafs fans were calling David Clarkson the next version of Wendel Clark and those comments backfired on them pretty quickly. Coming off five straight double-digit goal campaigns including 30 goals in 2011-12, fans expected Clarkson to be a physical force on the team who would still put up 40-plus points. However, not only did he score just 15 goals over two seasons with the team, he didn’t even hit 40 points in a Maple Leafs sweater.
July 5, 2013 – Columbus Blue Jackets sign Nathan Horton to a 7-year, $37.1 million deal
Nathan Horton was a very solid player, but he ran into a lot of injury issues that eventually ended his career. After three seasons with the Boston Bruins, Horton signed a massive deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets. However, the Welland, Ontario native only played 35 games in a Blue Jackets uniform before he had to call it a career.
July 5, 2013 – New Jersey Devils sign Ryane Clowe to a 5-year, $24.25 million deal
The Maple Leafs and the Blue Jackets weren’t the only ones to hand out a bad contract on July 5, 2013, as the Devils locked up Ryane Clowe to a five-year deal worth $4.85 million per season. The St. John’s, Newfoundland native played just 56 games in a Devils uniform, scoring eight goals and 30 points, before he was forced to retire due to a concussion.
July 5, 2013 – Phoenix Coyotes sign Mike Ribeiro to a 4-year, $22 million deal
Clearly it was a wild day in the NHL. Ribeiro only played one season with the Coyotes where he scored 16 goals and 47 points in 80 games and that was enough for the front office to end ties with the centreman. As a result, the Coyotes bought him out and will pay him his final installment of $1,944,444 next season.
September 11, 2013 – Buffalo Sabres sign Cody Hodgson to a 6-year, $25.5 million deal
This contract worked out for one season before it became an absolute mess. Hodgson came out and scored 20 goals and 44 points in 72 games after signing his new deal, but went on to score just six goals and 13 points the following season before he was bought out by the team, who is still paying him $791, 667 a season until 2022-23.
July 1, 2014 – Toronto Maple Leafs sign Stephane Robidas to a 3-year, $9 million deal
There have been worse contracts handed out over the years than the one the Maple Leafs gave Stephane Robidas five years ago, but the defenceman made this list because there was an entire island named after him after the Maple Leafs made him mysteriously disappear after one season in Toronto.
July 1, 2014 – Florida Panthers sign David Bolland to a 5-year, $27.5 million deal
The Florida Panthers are back at it again. After scoring eight goals and 12 points in 23 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Panthers decided to throw a long-term deal at Bolland. However, he socred just 7 goals and 28 points over the next two seasons before calling it a career.
July 2, 2014 – New York Islanders sign Mikhail Grabosvki to a 4-year, $20 million deal
The 5-year, $27.5 million deal the Toronto Maple Leafs gave Grabovski on March 6, 2012 was a lot worse than the one the Islanders gave him, but it happened on March 6, 2012, so it technically wasn’t the offseason. Grabo managed to score just 18 goals and 44 points with the Islanders over two seasons. However, the Maple Leafs are still paying the 35-year-old $1.791 million a year until the 2020-21 campaign.
July 1, 2016 – Edmonton Oilers sign Milan Lucic to a 7-year, $42 million deal
A lot of hockey fans thought this was the move that was going to help the Edmonton Oilers take that next step and it did at first. However, that only lasted one season. Lucic scored 23 goals and 50 points in 82 games in his first season with Edmonton, but managed just 16 goals and 54 points over the following two seasons. As a result, the 31-year-old was traded to the Calgary Flames this offseason in exchange for James Neal.
July 1, 2017 – Montreal Canadiens sign Karl Alzner to a 5-year, $23,125,000 deal
TSN’s hockey analysts knew that someone was going to overpay for Karl Alzner the summer of 2017, they just didn’t know who it was going to be or how much they were going to offer. Alzner scored one goal and 12 points in his first season with the Habs and played just nine games in the NHL last season while spending 34 in the AHL with the Laval Rocket.
Hey, at least the players got paid.
