5 worst and most untradeable contracts in the NHL

We’re counting down the five worst and most untradeable contracts in the NHL right now, based on factors that include remaining term, player production and age.

Ever since the 2004-05 NHL lockout, the league has seen major increases in general fan interest, television ratings, and revenue. It’s obviously led to more money for all the owners and players. Prior to the lockout, many superstar players were making around $5 to $7 million per season. But in this day and age, some second line forwards and second-pairing blueliners are actually earning more than.

Whether they like it or not, teams simply have to pay more money to award their top guys now, with superstars commanding $10 million or more per season. And as the league continues to see its revenue increase, players are only going to get more expensive over time.

Things are different in today’s NHL. General managers aren’t signing superstar players to short-term contracts anymore. The players are looking for lucrative long-term deals, be it with their own teams or in free agency.

Obviously, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks, teams who have each won three Stanley Cups since 2009, have had no problem awarding their franchise players with long-term contracts.

However, it doesn’t always work out when a team signs a big-named player to a massive contract. They demand big salaries, plenty of term plus the ever-complicated no-trade/movement clauses. And once their production declines, the player becomes practically untradeable.

After the league and players agreed to a new CBA in 2012-13, each team was awarded two compliance buyouts that had to be used within two years. Well, let’s just say that some owners and GMs wish they had more time to use those buyouts because they’re surely wasting money on some largely unproductive players.

Here are the five worst and untradeable contracts in the NHL right now.

Contract details are courtesy of CapFriendly.com, and stats via Hockey Reference.

5. Corey Perry

You can’t blame Anaheim Ducks general manager Bob Murray for breaking the bank on franchise star Corey Perry, inking him to an eight-year deal worth $69 million back in 2013. Perry was only 27 years of age at the time, and the Ducks were in the midst of a Pacific Division-winning season.

Murray probably knew this contract would become a burden in the future, but he couldn’t let the 2011 Hart Trophy winner walk. Keeping Perry brought far more pros than cons, as he guided Anaheim to a playoff berth every year from 2013 to 2018 – including trips to the 2015 and 2017 Western Conference Finals.

But Perry has been slowed over the last two seasons by injuries, and his production has dipped noticeably. Perry has eight seasons of 27-plus goals on his resume, but he’s only scored 19, 17 and 6 over the last three years now.

Perry, 34, was limited to 31 games this season because he required knee surgery, and it’s clear that his prime days are way behind him now. He carries an $8.625 million cap hit for two more seasons, and there’s absolutely no way a rival team will touch that contract right now.

Anaheim’s only hope of trading Perry is to wait until next offseason. There will only be one year left on his contract, and the Ducks can probably package him with a “sweetener” to a team that needs to reach the cap floor.

But right now, there is absolutely no way the Ducks can move out the remaining two years with an albatross cap hit of nearly $8.625 million. They’ll have to hold onto Perry for at least one more season before Murray can explore a trade.

3. Bobby Ryan

After franchise icon and long-time captain Daniel Alfredsson left for the Detroit Red Wings in 2013 free agency, the Ottawa Senators quickly moved to work in finding a replacement. Late general manager Bryan Murray swung a deal to acquire 30-goal man Bobby Ryan from the Ducks.

The deal paid major dividends for the Sens, as Ryan scored 23 goals and 48 points despite missing 12 games. The budget-conscious Senators loved Ryan’s game too much, and in an extremely rare occasion, owner Eugene Melnyk allowed his front office to pay up one of the team’s top players.

Before the 2013-14 season, the Senators handed Ryan a massive seven-year contract extension worth $50.75 million. It seemed like a fair deal at the time, but Ryan’s numbers have decreased significantly since he was rewarded with a new deal.

Ryan has only reached the 20-goal mark once in the five seasons since earning the new extension, and that was back in 2015-16, when he had 22 goals and 56 points. But even that isn’t good production for a player carrying a $7.25 million cap hit. The Senators were paying Ryan to be a consistent 30-goal scorer; he reached the feat four times in Anaheim.

Over the past three seasons, Ryan has posted 25, 33 and 42 points. He missed a total of 40 games over the  2016-17 and 2017-18 campaigns. Ryan is now 32 years of age and is signed for three more years, so the Senators have practically zero chance of trading him.

That is, unless they want to take back an equally bad contract. Adding a sweetener won’t really work for general manager Pierre Dorion, since the Senators are rebuilding and thus can’t afford to part with picks or prospects just to get out of Ryan’s contract.

2. Milan Lucic

After an excellent rookie year from Connor McDavid, former Edmonton Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli wasted little time trying to build around his new franchise face. In the 2016 offseason, the Oilers handed power forward Milan Lucic a whopping seven-year contract worth $42 million.

Lucic had reunited with Chiarelli, who was GM of the Boston Bruins when they won the Stanley Cup in 2011. Lucic had four 20-goal seasons on his resume, and he had hit the the 50-point mark four times in his career as well. He was only 28 years of age, too, so the contract wasn’t as risky as others signed that offseason (Frans Nielsen, Loui Eriksson, among others).

The 6-foot-3 Lucic had a wonderful first year in Edmonton, tallying 23 goals and 50 points. He helped the Oilers end an 11-year playoff drought, and the team fell just one game shy of reaching the Western Conference Final.

But things can change in such valuable time. Lucic went from a future cornerstone player in Edmonton to one of the most overpaid and untradeable players in the NHL. He tallied just 10 goals and 34 points in 2017-18, but his production dropped off even more this season.

Lucic only scored six goals and 14 points in 79 games, despite posting a respectable 51.0 Corsi For percentage. Even legendary head coach Ken Hitchcock was unable to get much out of Lucic, and new general manager Ken Holland faces next-to-impossible odds of unloading the remaining four years of his deal.

Lucic turns 31 next month and carries a $6 million cap hit over those final four seasons of the mega contract. If anything else, the Oilers have to cross their fingers and hope he can bounce back once and for all in 2019.

1. Brent Seabrook

It’s hard to blame Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman for awarding Brent Seabrook that mammoth eight-year deal worth $55 million prior to the 2015-16 season. Chicago was coming off a Stanley Cup-winning year, and Bowman wanted to reward a core player for all of his hard work.

Seabrook was also just 30 years of age at the time, and nobody could have guessed that he would rapidly decline in such short time. But here we stand almost four years after the contract was handed out, and it stands as the worst and most untradeable in the NHL.

The 34-year-old Seabrook is signed for five more years at a cap hit of $6.875 million, which will take him into his age-39 season. Complicating matters is the fact that he carries a no-movement clause for three more years. In 2022-23, it gets reduced to a modified no-trade clause.

Now, Seabrook is only three years removed from a career year in which he tallied 14 goals and 49 points, but his game has regressed significantly ever since. Over the last three years, Seabrook has only posted 39, 26 and 28 points. He owns a career Corsi For percentage of 52.2, but it dipped down to 47 percent in 2018-19.

Seabrook doesn’t bring much to the table offensively, has become a major liability in his own end of the ice and simply isn’t a game-changing blueliner anymore. He’s now in his mid-30s and carries an extremely high cap hit for five more years.

All of those factors are why Seabrook is easily the most untradeable player in the NHL, and there’s no way the team can realistically look to trade or buy him out for at least two more years. Maybe other teams will be more willing to take on his contract then, assuming Chicago provides a sweetener or two. But it’s not going to happen in 2019 or 2020.

Seabrook will be here in Chicago for at least another two years, but probably for the remainder of his contract. It’s just not going to be easy moving out an aging and past-his-prime player with that price tag and remaining term.