Bad Goalie Contracts

Two of my favorite things.  Stats and money.

Bad Contracts: Historical

Rick DiPietro 2006 15 years $67.5m

At the time 0.918 ES Finished career at 0.915

The mack-daddy of bad goalie contracts. 3/3 on criteria. Would be the worst contract of all time except the Islanders contract with Yashin was actually worse. Mitigated a little by the compliance buy-out. DiPietro will get paid $1.5m a year through 2029.

On of my friends in the league told me DiPietro paid for boob jobs for all the Islanders cheerleaders. So under all those pads beats a heart of Pure Gold.

Cam Ward 2010 6 years $37.8m

At the time 0.918 ES. Now 0.918

Ward is being paid for playoff success which never is a good thing. Greater than 10% of the cap in 2010. Ward's contract has been an albatross around the necks of the Canes since it was signed. If he can't be dumped in the off-season, this would be a good candidate for a compliance buy-out.

Christobal Huet 2008 4 years $22.5m

At the time 0.924 ES Finished career at 0.918

Run out of town after a glorious 0.896 in 2010. I am still not really clear on how Chicago got him off their books. Still playing in Switzerland, apparently.

Ryan Miller 2009 5 years $31.25m

At the time 0.922 ES Now 0.923

Is this song about Ja Rule or is 50 a Sabres fan? Not so sure.

You say you a gangsta but you neva pop nuttin
We say you a wanksta and you need to stop frontin
You go to the dealership but you neva cop nuttin
You been hustlin a long time and you ain't got nuttin

Ilya Bryzgalov 2011 9 years $51m

At the time 0.926 Now 0.923

Yes Bryz is crazy. All goalies are crazy.  Bryz is an OK goalie, just not a $5.6m a year goalie. Mitigated by the compliance buy-out. Bryz gets $1.6m a year through 2027.

Ondrej Pavelec 2012 5 years $19.5m

At the time 0.918 Now 0.917

Why you would pay a below-average goalie who has never been to the playoffs almost $4m a year is beyond me. Another good candidate for a compliance buy-out.

Curtis Joseph 2002 3 years $24m

At the time 0.906 overall Finished at 0.906

Joseph is an interesting case. When he first signed with the Blues, the team was widely criticized for the deal. As I recall, it was 4 years $1m. Not $1m a season, $1m total. Even in the pre-cap days, $8m for a goalie was a lot of money. Hasek money. And Hasek was around 0.930 overall. Detroit got swept out of the playoffs in the Spring of 2003 and lost in the second round of 2004. Money well spent. Mitigated by the last year being wiped out by the lockout.

MA Fleury 2008 7 years $35m

At the time 0.918 Now 0.918

Imagine what the Eastern Conference would look like if Pittsburgh had taken Eric Staal instead of MAF. Way too much money for a below-average goalie.

Gray Zone

Roberto Luongo 2010 12 years $64m

Career 0.929

On the one hand, Luongo's contract is too much money and too long. He was 31 when he signed, so the contract lasts until he is 43. On the other hand, his cap hit is $5.3m. Compared to some of these other deals, that doesn't look too bad.

Bad Contracts: Today

Henrik Lundqvist 7 years $59.5m

Career 0.929 ES

Lundqvist is a great goalie. But this is too much money and too long.  Skaters with cap hits of $8m or so are Crosby, Malkin, Perry, Getzlaf, and EStaal. Would I trade any of those guys to get Lundqvist? No. If the cap goes up over $100m and Lundqvist stays at 0.929 for the duration, this winds up being a so-so deal. If the cap stays around $70-80m or, more likely, Lundqvist goes downhill, this could be up there with the worst deals in history. Lundqvist is 31. He will be 39 when this contract ends.

Corey Crawford 6 years $36m

Career 0.923

Crawford is an OK goalie. He's about the same as Bryz. You can sign OK goalies for a lot less than $6m a season. Chicago gets marks for being on this list twice, albeit with 2 different GM's.

Mike Smith 6 years $34m

Career 0.921

Not quite Crawford money for a not quite Crawford goalie. Smith is 31 and will be 37 when this ends. An enormous risk for a franchise with little room for error.

Jonathan Quick 10 years $58m

Career 0.922

Like Cam Ward, Quick seems to be getting paid for playoff success. I don't expect that to work out too well here either. It's an over-pay for his regular season results. As Quick is 27, the length of the contract looks bad too.

Jimmy Howard 6 years $31.75m

Career 0.925

A little less money than Crawford, so not quite as bad. Two Detroit goalies on the list, too.

Kari Lehtonen 5 years $29.5

Career 0.926

Lehtonen is better than I give him credit for. The same money as Crawford for a (slightly) better (if fragile) goalie.

Steve Mason 3 years $12.3m

Career 0.916

Mason = Pavelec. $4m in 2014 < $4m in 2012 Two Flyers! Huzzah!