The increased salary cap floor has caused NHL teams to sign a large amount of outrageous deals.
Somehow I don't think this is what the NHL had in mind when it shut the league down for a year in an effort to get radical spending under control.
With teams forced to spend money to reach the salary cap floor, which is $48.3 million next season, the NHL set a record for shockingly bad contracts on July 1, the opening of free agent season. It used to be the big spenders that were responsible for inflation in the NHL, but that's no longer the case. Now, it's the bottom feeders that are throwing things out of whack.
The Florida Panthers, for example, went on a spending spree that brought them closer to the floor and definitely made their team different, but are they better? The Panthers replaced starting goalie Tomas Vokoun with veteran Jose Theodore; signed veteran defenceman Ed Jovanovski and a slew of forwards: journeyman Scottie Upshall, Tomas Fleischmann, Marcel Goc and Sean Bergenheim.
Jovanovski, 35, managed just five goals in 50 games with the Phoenix Coyotes last season. He somehow inked a four-year deal worth $16.5 million. Upshall had 22 goals in 82 games with the Columbus Blue Jackets last season and signed with Florida for four years for $16 million. Fleischmann got $18 million for four years. Theodore is a bargain at two years for $3 million.
When you consider the Panthers traded for defenceman Brian Campbell, who will earn $7.14 million over the next four seasons, and signed Tomas Kopecy for $12 million for four years, they accomplished their goal of getting more expensive. The big question is: Are they better? The Panthers also traded for winger Kris Versteeg from the Philadelphia Flyers. He'll earn $3.083 million next season.
Or perhaps it should be, will these expensive additions get them to the playoffs? The Panthers, you should know, have not won a playoff game since 1996-97.
At the end of the day, the Panthers may have moved one step closer to oblivion; not one step closer to winning the Stanley Cup.
In one of the great examples of timing being everything, two good defencemen signed ridiculous free agent deals. James Wisniewski, who had a breakout year with the Montreal Canadiens last season, signed for six years with the Blue Jackets for $33 million. Christian Ehrhoff, a solid two-way defender, signed a 10-year-deal on Friday for $40 million. Neither player will ever challenge for the Norris Trophy.
The Blue Jackets, who reportedly lost upwards of $25 million last season, also recently traded for Jeff Carter who has a monster deal that will pay him more than $42 million in the next nine seasons. How an this team make money now? Carter and Wisniewski are nice additions, but they don't guarantee Columbus will make it to the playoffs…and if they don't make the playoffs, expect changes at the top.
Some deals were absolutely nuts. Upshall, for instance, is a decent player, but his team needed to spend like drunken sailors, which enabled him to sign a four-year deal worth $16 million with -- get this -- a no-movement clause. He's a guy who gets traded routinely, but not anymore.
Erik Cole had a nice bounce back season with the Carolina Hurricanes, but $18 million over four years to play with the Montreal Canadiens? Outrageous! Joel Ward was a nice player for the Nashville Predators and is a really neat story, but I doubt even he never dreamed he'd earn $3 million a year for four years. Mike Smith lost his starter's job in Tampa Bay last season, but somehow convinced the Phoenix Coyotes to pay him $4 million for the next two seasons. Mike Rupp is a good tough guy who can play a bit, but seriously, $4.5 million over three years to play for the Rangers?
"Other than Brad Richards and Christian Ehrhoff, it is a bunch of average to below average players hitting amazing home runs," said Sportsnet hockey analyst Doug MacLean, former president of the Columbus Blue Jackets. "I used to go to bed at night worried about money and I'd wake up worrying about money and now I'm watching guys spending money just to get to the floor. I have never seen anything like this."
One of the strangest deals was the one-year, $3.3 million contract given to former superstar Jaromir Jagr by the Flyers. They got rid of two players they perceived to be trouble in Carter and Mike Richards and then bring in a guy who doesn't exactly have a sterling reputation. Jagr has played in the KHL the past three years and had just 19 goals and 51 points in 49 games this past season.
Good for the players that signed for big money. Take it if you can get it. However, I have to think Gary Bettman will not sleep well for the next few nights.
