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Worst contract in the NHL?

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Worst contract in the NHL?

  • Huberdeau

    Votes: 14 33.3%

  • Nurse

    Votes: 10 23.8%

  • Pettersson

    Votes: 12 28.6%

  • Lindholm

    Votes: 1 2.4%

  • Graves

    Votes: 1 2.4%

  • Dubois

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other

    Votes: 4 9.5%
  • Total voters
    42
voyageur said:
Not sure how Grubauer isn't on that list.
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Grubauer's deal is horrible but the saving grace is that it only has 2 years left after this year. I don't think a bad 2 year deal for a goalie matches up with some of the truly worst deals in hockey, even with as bad as his deal is. Same reason someone like Jarry isn't on the list.

IMO you have to have at least 4 years of term left to be in the discussion for "worst contract in hockey".

WaitingForThatCab said:
Not seeing Bobrovsky on there brings joy to my heart.
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Hard for Bobrovsky to be on the list when he only has 1 year left after this year.
 
Pettersson is close to taking the crown. He's either nursing a big injury or is just mentally checked out in Vancouver.

Since the start of 2025:

20 GP
1 Goal (Matt Rempe has more...)
6 Assists
7 Points
-6
27 shots

With an 11.6 AAV for 7 more years.

Now lets compare him to Huberdeau in the same time frame:

23 GP
6 Goals
9 Assists
15 Points
-1
48 shots

10.5 AAV for 6 more years

JH is 5 or so years older but he's also not the 1C on a team that was supposed to be a sure playoff team.
 
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MikeyMike01 said:
With a $1M buyout, it can’t be him.
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Yeah I think the criteria to consider are:

1. AAV relative to level of play
2. How much term is left
3. Whether the contract is signing bonus heavy (aka buyout proof)
4. Whether the contract has NMCs or NTCs

A contender for the worst deal in hockey hits all of these. Using Hubderdeau as an example:

1. AAV: $10.5 million a year for a 50-60 point winger
2. Term left: 6 years after this year, signed through 2030-2031
3. Bonuses: $47.5 million in signing bonuses and $15.5 million in base salary remaining on his deal
4. NMC/NTC: full NMC for years 1-4, NMC and 12 team trade list for years 5-6

This is basically what you have to hit to be in this debate IMO.
 
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Empoleon8771 said:
Grubauer's deal is horrible but the saving grace is that it only has 2 years left after this year. I don't think a bad 2 year deal for a goalie matches up with some of the truly worst deals in hockey, even with as bad as his deal is.

Same reason someone like Jarry isn't on the list.



Hard for Bobrovsky to be on the list when he only has 1 year left after this year.
Click to expand...
Ok but Dubois is actually playing in the NHL and producing, how the hell is he on the list? You could say the same for Huberdeau (who is at the very least outproducing Cozens) and Nurse. Taking up a bench position, or a minor league position has to be worse in value. You could probably get 3 Dubas players on this list with Letang, Graves and Jarry.
 
voyageur said:
Ok but Dubois is actually playing in the NHL and producing, how the hell is he on the list? You could say the same for Huberdeau (who is at the very least outproducing Cozens) and Nurse. Taking up a bench position, or a minor league position has to be worse in value. You could probably get 3 Dubas players on this list with Letang, Graves and Jarry.
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Yet Huberdeau is tied for the lead in this poll with Pettersson, both of who are productive players.

paracord said:
Uhhhh....Erik Karlsson is making 11.5 million (more than Crosby), to be the worst defensive defenseman in the NHL.
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Karlsson only has 2 years left.

Again, read this:

Empoleon8771 said:
Yeah I think the criteria to consider are:

1. AAV relative to level of play
2. How much term is left
3. Whether the contract is signing bonus heavy (aka buyout proof)
4. Whether the contract has NMCs or NTCs
Click to expand...

IMO Karlsson doesn't have the term left to get on this list. Seth Jones probably should have been an option in this poll if you want to talk defensemen.
 
DFC said:
Stamkos should probably be on this list. He's barely an NHLer 5v5.
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I initially didn't include Stamkos because I thought 3 years after this year wasn't enough, but I don't think I was considering age enough when making the poll.

I'd probably sub Dubois and Graves (his deal is horrid but just not bad enough to be on this list) out and put Jones, Stamkos and Letang on the list if I were to redo it. I still think Nurse, Pettersson and Huberdeau are the main 3 contenders, but Jones, Stamkos and Letang fit better than Dubois and Graves IMO.
 
Empoleon8771 said:
Yeah I think the criteria to consider are:

1. AAV relative to level of play
2. How much term is left
3. Whether the contract is signing bonus heavy (aka buyout proof)
4. Whether the contract has NMCs or NTCs

A contender for the worst deal in hockey hits all of these. Using Hubderdeau as an example:

1. AAV: $10.5 million a year for a 50-60 point winger
2. Term left: 6 years after this year, signed through 2030-2031
3. Bonuses: $47.5 million in signing bonuses and $15.5 million in base salary remaining on his deal
4. NMC/NTC: full NMC for years 1-4, NMC and 12 team trade list for years 5-6

This is basically what you have to hit to be in this debate IMO.
Click to expand...
I think this is pretty close to the Stamkos deal. Only 3 years after this on Stamkos's deal, but he's a net negative 5v5. So that's a lot of space for someone actively making you worse, as opposed to not making you as good as someone with a big contract should.

Empoleon8771 said:
I initially didn't include Stamkos because I thought 3 years after this year wasn't enough, but I don't think I was considering age enough when making the poll.

I'd probably sub Dubois and Graves (his deal is horrid but just not bad enough to be on this list) out and put Jones, Stamkos and Letang on the list if I were to redo it. I still think Nurse, Pettersson and Huberdeau are the main 3 contenders, but Jones, Stamkos and Letang fit better than Dubois and Graves IMO.
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I think "likelihood of a rebound" has to be considered. That's where the Stamkos contract is truly horrific, because it's gonna get worse. Probably a lot worse, and he's a net negative now.

I think you can make the case for Stamkos at 2m. If he's sheltered a lot 5v5 and basically just a PP shooter. But even then I think you have to give him a lot of benefits of the doubt. It's really an atrocious contract.
 
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DFC said:
I think this is pretty close to the Stamkos deal. Only 3 years after this on Stamkos's deal, but he's a net negative 5v5. So that's a lot of space for someone actively making you worse, as opposed to not making you as good as someone with a big contract should.



I think "likelihood of a rebound" has to be considered. That's where the Stamkos contract is truly horrific, because it's gonna get worse. Probably a lot worse, and he's a net negative now.

I think you can make the case for Stamkos at 2m. If he's sheltered a lot 5v5 and basically just a PP shooter. But even then I think you have to give him a lot of benefits of the doubt. It's really an atrocious contract.
Click to expand...

Yeah this is exactly what I was thinking of when it came to age. Letang and Stamkos are only going to get worse but Pettersson can improve. Dubois is a great example of that. I’m not 100% sure of Stamkos’ deal, but Letang’s deal is also a 35+ contract which makes it even worse.
 
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It's really between Nurse and Huberdeau.
I'm going Nurse, because he was never at the level his pay would suggest, Huberdeau despite having sucked since he got to Calgary, at least was that player.

Stamkos should be on there too
 
Empoleon8771 said:
Yeah this is exactly what I was thinking of when it came to age. Letang and Stamkos are only going to get worse but Pettersson can improve. Dubois is a great example of that. I’m not 100% sure of Stamkos’ deal, but Letang’s deal is also a 35+ contract which makes it even worse.
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Yeah, I mean, it was really brought home for us TB fans a few days ago when discussing the possibility of bringing Stamkos home, double-retained. And someone correctly pointed out that even THAT likely wouldn't be worth it. He might make our PP a hair better (or he might make it worse -- I think Guentzel is leading the league in PP goals), but then 5v5 he's just not good. So you wind up actually just getting worse.

Paying him 8m is just a nightmare.
 
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Sadly, it is probably Huberdeau.

At least with Pettersson he is still fairly young so he has more chance of turning it around and not deteriorating with age like Huberdeau.
 
Pettersson

Listen he deserved the contract as the comp signed right before him (Nylander) cemented that.

But my god this guy is broken mentally.
 
I would least like EP on my team at the moment. It’s the term and uncertain cause.
 
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