NHL free agency 2019: 5 worst contracts from Day 1
By Alex Hoegler
Once again, NHL general managers got too excited and threw around contracts that will go down as big mistakes. Here are the five worst that were handed out at the start of NHL free agency.
The first day of NHL free agency in 2019 was certainly adventurous, as we saw a handful of perennial All-Star players find new homes and some non-superstar players managed to come away with overly generous deals.
Artemi Panarin, the prize of this year’s free agent class, wound up joining the New York Rangers on a seven-year contract worth $81.5 million. To the surprise of nobody, Sergei Bobrovsky joined the Florida Panthers, inking a monstrous seven-year worth $70 million.
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Speaking of free agent signings that didn’t surprise us, the Nashville Predators finally landed Matt Duchene. The 28-year-old star center signed a seven-year deal worth $58 million, as he heads to his fourth team in less than two years.
Now, maybe these three mega-contracts won’t look good down the road, but in the short term, Panarin, Bobrovsky, and Duchene should all be big-time impact players for their new clubs. Simply put,, these are great signings that should help the Rangers, Panthers, and Predators improve drastically in 2019-29.
But on the other hand, we saw some general managers get too greedy and excited on players that can’t be classified as total game changers. Whether it’s a veteran goalie, a second-pairing defenseman or average top-six forward, some players wound up taking way more money than many of us expected.
Here are the five worst deals that were signed on the first day of free agency.