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The NHL's 'Deadweight Players'


TropicalFruitGirl26

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Caught, Prison, Chain, Metal, Fig, Ball, Steel

With the recent move of previous 'unmovable' contracts such as Dion Phaneuf and Vincent Lecavalier, I thought it might be time to have a thread where we can discuss your team's current unmovable, deadweight, and albatross players/contracts.

 

You know....who on your team (or any NHL team really) you will be stuck with till the end of time (or at least till their contract runs out...same difference in some cases...haha).......those players who, although moving Phaneuf and VLC offered hope, you likely are just plain stuck with.

 

For the Minnesota Wild, especially given their current freefall, I will nominate Thomas Vanek ($6.5M), Jason Pominville ($5.6M), and Nik Backstrom ($3.4M).

All three with NMC's.

 

Backstrom will be the least of the worries as his cap hit will be coming off the books in the off season....Vanek still has one more year remaining after this one, but Pominville? Ugh.

The guy has just about all but disappeared....and the Wild are stuck with him (no one would SERIOUSLY consider taking him...would they??) until the end of the 2018-19 season!

 

With GM's such as Brian Burke and Paul Holmgren no longer at the helm of their respective offices (though "Homer" can still cause damage in his current role as President of the current Philly team), the liklihood of someone viewing Pominville as a good gamble are all but gone.

 

I suppose Pommer can still turn things around, but these disappearance episodes of his have become more frequent, and now, at a time when his team needs him more than ever, he has pulled a COMPLETE H.G. Wells, and Invisible Manned his way into Wild history!

 

As for the Tampa Bay Lightning, we have good ol Matt Carle.

He of the no points on the season, no trade clause, $5.5M cap hit, and flag hockey mentality.

 

Bolts could always put him on waivers then bury him in the minors if no one takes him (yea, like anyone WOULD), but from what I understand, while Carle's production has been butt awful, he is a stand up type human being and the Bolts are trying to "do right by him" and not just shove him in the closet, so to speak.

 

Well, TB has many big business decisions to make regarding several of their ACTUAL productive players...and being "nice" to Mr. Carle may keep them in the hole with regards to an overall competitive blue line.

Carle still has two more seasons after this one to continue to hold the Bolts down.

 

One albatross coming off the TB books will be Mattias Ohlund (yea, remember him?)....this off season, TB is finally done paying the man who hasn't played a game for them due to double knee surgery in YEARS!

And by extension, players like Sam Gagne ($1.6M..and he will be coming off the books as well this off season), and VLC have been burdens on TB's cap and finances.

 

VLC will be continuing to receive payment from TB for the next 5 seasons as per his buyout.

 

So....who do you all have as "deadweight", "ball n chain", "yoke" type players on your team? And do ya think you can actually rid yourselves of them?

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Good topic to discuss.  Since Hexy moved VLC, the new dead weight on the Flyers would have to be McDud (C) aka Andrew MacDonald.  Though he was regulated to the Phantoms, he has an albatross of a salary. He is obviously not in the Flyers long term plans and the fact that he cleared waivers at the beginning of the season shows just how much the NHL cares for him.  A close second would be Umberger aka Bumberger(C).  A bad trade from the start, RJ has been nothing but a huge disappointement.  He finally scored his 1st goal after a 50 game goalless drought.  IMO all he does his take up a roster spot.   The good news, his contract is up after the 2016-17 season. I doubt Hexy can move him, but if he can, he will truly be a miracle worker.  Finally I did add Streit.  Though not a total dead weight, with the emergence of Ghost, Streit's days as a Flyer are numbered.  Here too I am hoping Hexy can find a team who needs a #3 or #4 defenseman and  move him and his large contract out of Flyersland.  If not moved, the 2016-17 season will be his last in O&B.  Too make it more difficult, sadly both Streit and RJ have NTC/NMC which makes it all all that more difficult in moving these players.

 

Note: All cap numbers came from here.... https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/flyers

 

Player Terms POS Status Age 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22
Mark Streit 35+M-NTC D NHL 38 $5,250,000 $5,250,000
UFA
       
Andrew MacDonald   D NHL 29 $5,000,000 $5,000,000 $5,000,000 $5,000,000 $5,000,000
UFA
 
RJ Umberger Mod/NTC-NMC C NHL 33 $4,600,000 $4,600,000
UFA
       

 

 

 

                       
                       
                       
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@pilldoc

 

Sheesh....While the Streit and Umberger contracts are pretty bad, there is still a slight chance they get moved to a team with plenty of cap space and wanting "veteran leadership" from those two at least for next season alone.

 

But that MacDonald contract? Holy Heck...... 4 more seasons at $5M?? Ouch, double ouch and a 'good luck with THAT' ouch!

The ONLY way I can see MacDonald moved is if he suddenly goes into a hot streak (maybe at the start of next season) and Hextall is smart enough to move him while he is at his peak (does MacDonald even HAVE peaks?? lol) and unload him before he cools back down to the temperature of Pluto!

 

A guy like that, if he gets hot, may tempt most GM's to go, "Hey, you know what? We will hang on to him...he is playing well now and can be good for our young players".

Pray, pray, PRAY that Hextall is not fooled by such sorcery!!

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1 minute ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

wanting "veteran leadership" from those two at least for next season alone

 

Yeah...RJ is a veteran all right! A Veteran at serving popcorn to his bosses in the press box.. He will be a great mentor for how to be a great server to some unsuspecting rookie. :thumbsu:

 

5 minutes ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

But that MacDonald contract? Holy Heck...... 4 more seasons at $5M?? Ouch, double ouch and a 'good luck with THAT' ouch!

 

Welcome to our word...now you see why we hate McDud(C) and Homer so much!  That one will be haunting the Flyers for years!

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@yave1964 or @SpikeDDS likely know better....

 

...but how about Jimmy Howard for the Wings? Or Jonathan Ericsson?

 

Ericsson is locked into a NTC contract until 2020 for a cap hit of $4.25M....and not much production to speak of. Now, that said, if he is more of a 'stay at home type', then the overall production wouldn't be a problem.

But is a stay-at-home type really worth four and a quarter mil? Also (because I haven't watched many Wings games this year) is he smart enough defenseman to offset his salary and relative low production?

 

If there are no positives there, then yea, I'd say Ericsson could be deadweight.

 

Jimmy Howard.

Petr Mrazek is obviously the better goalie, the future moving forward, etc.....Howard could possibly embrace the back up role and be ok....buuuuut....who pays $5.3M for a back up goaltender?? And Howard's contract is also 'No Trade' sans the final year in 2018-19.

 

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4 minutes ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

@yave1964 or @SpikeDDS likely know better....

 

...but how about Jimmy Howard for the Wings? Or Jonathan Ericsson?

 

Ericsson is locked into a NTC contract until 2020 for a cap hit of $4.25M....and not much production to speak of. Now, that said, if he is more of a 'stay at home type', then the overall production wouldn't be a problem.

But is a stay-at-home type really worth four and a quarter mil? Also (because I haven't watched many Wings games this year) is he smart enough defenseman to offset his salary and relative low production?

 

If there are no positives there, then yea, I'd say Ericsson could be deadweight.

 

Jimmy Howard.

Petr Mrazek is obviously the better goalie, the future moving forward, etc.....Howard could possibly embrace the back up role and be ok....buuuuut....who pays $5.3M for a back up goaltender?? And Howard's contract is also 'No Trade' sand the final year in 2018-19.

 

Howard is dead weight, untradeable, making 4 times what the starter makes. That is always problematic.

Ericsson however, IMHO is another matter.

 At 4.25 million I see him as a bargain, a big immovable blueliner, extremely responsible. Never going to be a puck mover but he handles his own end and lets his partner wander. Looking at contracts for guys like Sekera and Petry and it convinces me that Ericsson is a bargain.

 

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David Clarkson in Columbus. An absolute albatross of a contract, I still cannot believe the Leafs have managed in the salary cap era have managed to get rid of Phaneuf, Clarkson and Kessel.

 

   I am not sure but I believe that Alexander Semin is being paid by three different teams NOT to play for them this year.

Pominville and Vanek are not exactly dead weight but they are not earning what they are being paid.

 

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2 hours ago, yave1964 said:

David Clarkson in Columbus. An absolute albatross of a contract, I still cannot believe the Leafs have managed in the salary cap era have managed to get rid of Phaneuf, Clarkson and Kessel.

 

Perhaps the greatest achievement in general manager work that the Leafs organization has ever seen.  

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7 hours ago, yave1964 said:

David Clarkson in Columbus.

 

Want to hear something REALLY scary? He turned down an extra $1M/yr from Craig MacTavish, reinforcing that old truism about the best deal being the one you never make.

 

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9 hours ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

@yave1964 or @SpikeDDS likely know better....

 

...but how about Jimmy Howard for the Wings? Or Jonathan Ericsson?

 

Ericsson is locked into a NTC contract until 2020 for a cap hit of $4.25M....and not much production to speak of. Now, that said, if he is more of a 'stay at home type', then the overall production wouldn't be a problem.

But is a stay-at-home type really worth four and a quarter mil? Also (because I haven't watched many Wings games this year) is he smart enough defenseman to offset his salary and relative low production?

 

If there are no positives there, then yea, I'd say Ericsson could be deadweight.

 

Jimmy Howard.

Petr Mrazek is obviously the better goalie, the future moving forward, etc.....Howard could possibly embrace the back up role and be ok....buuuuut....who pays $5.3M for a back up goaltender?? And Howard's contract is also 'No Trade' sans the final year in 2018-19.

 

My take is similar to @yave1964's response except not quite as positive about Ericsson. I don't think he's dead weight, and historically he has been very good, but this season, I have seen him cough up more pucks than he usually does. That said, to get another D-man who is comparable would almost certainly cost us more than his current contract. On that @yave1964 and I agree.

 

We also agree on Howard. Dude hasn't won a game since December 3, 2015. Not that all of this losses have been entirely his fault. They have not. And he is getting the starts of the second of back-to-back games, which are harder to win. But having said that, he is unable to steal wins. And in many of the losses--not all, mind you--there has been at least one goal allowed that I THINK Mrazek may have been able to stop. Yes, I think Howard's contract is going to come back to haunt us if it hasn't already started doing so already. Just goes to show you that Kenny Holland is human. Not that we really needed another lesson after the Franzen deal.

 

And not quite dead weight, but I'm starting to wonder about Brad Richards too. I'm not really seeing production from him justifying his contract. Not completely dead weight, but still. I'm hoping that playoff hockey will bring out his value more as it has seemed to do in the past.

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