NHL Notebook: A look at the worst contracts signed in free agency
2 days ago
We’re four days into an already busy off-season, and Independence Day was no different.
Only four days in, there are certain teams that have already signed players to questionable deals at best: we’ll take a look at some of those contracts. Moreover, a defenceman heads to the Kontinental Hockey League, and the 2023 Stanley Cup champs have their backup netminder.
Let’s dig into all of that in the latest NHL Notebook!
The worst contracts
On Thursday, Daily Faceoff’s Scott Maxwell released an article looking at the worst contracts handed out so far this postseason. Thankfully, the Oilers didn’t make a repeat of the 2022 off-season and sign a player (Jack Campbell) to a horrendous deal (five years, $25 million).
Kings sign Edmundson
The same cannot be said for the Los Angeles Kings though. Former Oiler Warren Foegele signed a three-year, $10.5 million deal, but he didn’t feature on the list. It was their other Jul.1 signing, Joel Edmundson, who signed a four-year deal with an annual cap hit of $3.85 million.
Edmundson, 31, is a big-bodied left-shot defenceman who is just that, a big body that can hit. He’s not great defensively, isn’t good on the penalty kill, and doesn’t impact the scoresheet. However, he has made it to the Stanley Cup Finals twice. Still won’t do much for the Kings though.
Stephenson and Montour in Seattle
Fellow Pacific Division rival, the Seattle Kraken, also made two moves that were scrutinized. They signed right-shot defenceman Brandon Montour to a seven-year deal worth $7.143 million annually, as well as centreman Chandler Stephenson to a seven-year deal with a cap hit of $6.25 million.
Montour scored 16 goals and 73 points in 2022-23 with the Panthers, but his production dropped to just eight goals and 33 points in 66 games. The 30-year-old scored eight goals and 13 points in the 2023 postseason, down to three goals and 11 points in the 2024 postseason.
Stephenson’s Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Florida Panthers in the 2023 Stanley Cup Final, with Stephenson scoring 10 goals and 20 points in 22 games during that run. Last season, he scored 16 goals and 51 points in 75 games, down from the same number of goals and 65 points the season prior.
In reality, these contracts aren’t great, but the Kraken did get two players who can impact the game.
Nashville nabs Skjei
The Nashville Predators had a busy Jul. 1, signing Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei. The latter signed a seven-year deal with an annual cap hit of $7 million.
Skjei, 30, played for the Carolina Hurricanes starting in 2019-20, and scored 13 goals and 47 points in 80 games this past season, the latter being a career-high. Add on “pretty good defence”, and the Predators signed a solid defenceman.
However, there’s always risk in giving a 30-year-old a seven-year deal. It’s probably too long of term, but the Stamkos and Marchessault signings could hurt the Predators just as much, or even worse.
Other names on the list
Nikita Zadorov signed a six-year contract with a cap hit of $5 million with the Boston Bruins. Big Z 2.0 had an excellent postseason with the Vancouver Canucks, but that seemed to be the exception to his career, not the rule.
Elias Lindholm also signed with Boston to a seven-year deal with a cap hit of $7.75. Like Zadorov, he was traded from the Calgary Flames to the Vancouver Canucks, and ended up signing with the Boston Bruins. He was one of the best centres on the market, but struggled in Vancouver.
Sean Monahan signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets for five years with a cap hit of $5.5 million. He had a nice season in 2023-24, even being traded for a first before the deadline, but there’s a lot of risk here.
Chris Tanev is 34 and the Toronto Maple Leafs signed him to a six-year contract with a cap hit of $4.5 million. Enough said, really.
Nikita Zaitsev heads to the KHL
After a debut season in 2016-17 when he scored four goals and 36 points, Zaitsev signed a seven-year deal with a cap hit of $4.5 million. He never hit the 30 point marker again, heck, he never even hit the 20-point markers again, as he was traded to the Ottawa Senators along with Connor Brown for Cody Ceci and a few other pieces on Jul. 1, 2019.
In 2020-21, he had his second-best season, scoring four goals and 17 points in 55 games, before eventually being traded to the Chicago Blackhawks along with a second-round pick for future considerations in a cap dump.
Overall, he finished with 22 goals and 118 points in 482 National Hockey League games. At 32, it doesn’t look like he’ll ever return.
Golden Knights ink their backup netminder
At the draft, the Vegas Golden Knights moved Logan Thompson, who played the majority of the games in 2023-24 thanks to Adin Hill’s injury, to the Washington Capitals for two picks.
Later that night, the Golden Knights traded Paul Cotter and a 2025 third-round pick to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for Akira Schmid’s rights and Alexander Holtz. The latter was selected seventh-overall in 2020, and scored 16 goals and 28 points in 82 games with the Devils.
However, the topic of this section is Schmid, who wasn’t qualified by the Golden Knights, becoming an unrestricted free agent. Well, the Golden Knights re-signed him, as they were expected to. He signed a two-year deal with an annual cap hit of $875,000.
Schmid is a rather unproven netminder, playing just 43 National Hockey League games where he has an .899 save percentage and a 2.90 goals-against average. However, he had a solid showing in 2022-23, posting a .922 save percentage and a 2.13 goals-against average in 18 games, along with nine postseason games.
Still, it’s a pretty weird deal.
Sharks re-sign a handful of players
The San Jose Sharks have had a busy off-season. On top of selecting Macklin Celebrini with the first-overall pick in the 2024 draft, they traded for two players a few days prior.
Well, those two players re-signed with the Sharks. Ty Dellandrea signed to a two-year deal with a cap hit of $1.3 million, while Carl Grundstrom signed to a two-year deal with a cap hit of $1.8 million.
Last season, Dellandrea scored two goals and nine points in 42 games for the stacked Dallas Stars, not too great for the 13th-overall pick in the 2018 draft. The season prior, he scored a career-high nine goals and 28 points in 82 games. With the trade to the Sharks, he’ll get a lot more opportunity to play a key role.
Grundstrom has always been a depth scorer, managing to score eight goals and 12 points in 50 games this past season for the Los Angeles Kings. His career-high, like Dellandrea, came in 2022-23 when he scored 12 goals and 19 points in 57 games.
The Sharks are still going to have a rough 2024-25.
Sharks hire Ryane Clowe as assistant general manager
Sticking with the San Jose Sharks, they’ve hired Ryane Clowe as their new assistant general manager.
The 41-year-old was drafted by the Sharks in the sixth round all the way back in 2001. He made his debut with the team in 2005-06 and became a mainstay on the roster the next season. Clowe’s best season came in 2010-11, scoring a career-high 24 goals and 62 points. In his Shark tenure, he scored 101 goals and 271 points in 423 games.
He was traded during the 2012-13 season to the New York Rangers, before eventually signing with their rivals, the New Jersey Devils, ahead of the 2013-14 season. He played parts of two seasons, or 56 games, before suffering a concussion and being forced to retire.
Post-playing days, he has spent time coaching. He was hired in the 2016 off-season as the Devils’ assistant, before taking a role with the now defunct Newfoundland Growlers of the East Coast Hockey league in 2018-19, later stepping down due to his concussion history.
It’s good to see him back in hockey.
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