NHL Contracts: Each team’s worst deal

Carolina Hurricanes: Scott Darling

Contract: Three years remaining, $4.15 million average annual value, $11.85 million total salary remaining, 15-team modified no-trade clause.

The Carolina Hurricanes have been plagued by bad goaltending. They tried to solve this in 2017 by trading for Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Scott Darling. The Hurricanes proceeded to sign him to a four-year deal worth $4.15 million annually. At the time, it seemed like a good idea. Darling, after all, had been a stellar backup and earned his chance to be a starter.

If Mrazek outplays Darling, things could get very ugly in Carolina. Especially since the latter has a 15-team no-trade clause.

However, his time with the Hurricanes has been horrible, even though it’s been only a year. 42 goaltenders played in at least 30 games last season. Darling’s .888 save percentage ranked last among all qualified goalies. His 3.18 goals against average was in the bottom five among those netminders.

Now, to be fair, maybe Darling just took a while to adjust to being a starting goalie. Or maybe he wasn’t really ready for a starting role. At least Carolina is providing him with much better competition this season than Cam Ward.

Petr Mrazek, signed to a $1.5 million deal earlier this summer, could challenge him for the starting role. At least the Hurricanes are only committing $5.65 million to their goaltending, which isn’t that bad. Ideally, Mrazek and Darling will form a strong tandem. Neither goalie appears to be a true number one goaltender, so maybe having a 1a and 1b situation will work.

But if Mrazek outplays Darling, things could get very ugly in Carolina. Especially since the latter has a 15-team no-trade clause.