The worst contracts signed in 2025 NHL free agency so far
This summer may be the weirdest time to evaluate contracts, especially based on how bad they are. The rising salary cap has drastically altered the market, making contracts that look questionable at best a bit more open to interpretation, especially because the percentage of cap space that they take up will decrease as the years go along.
But at the same time, it’s also made general managers more trigger happy in the summer than usual, and that’s saying a lot. Even with the potential for the contracts to be less damaging down the road, there was still a fair share of deals signed that probably will cause their teams cap headaches in a few years. The rising salary cap hasn’t changed the fact that every dollar matters.
So, let’s dive into the five worst contracts handed out so far this summer, ones that still provided some sticker shock in this adjusted market. First, here are some honorable mentions:
Jake Allen, New Jersey Devils ($1.8 million AAV x 5 years)/Yanni Gourde, Tampa Bay Lightning ($2,333,333 AAV x 6 years)/Brad Marchand, Florida Panthers ($5.25 million AAV x 6 years) – Last year, Chris Tanev’s six-year contract cracked my honorable mentions for similar reasons that these three players’ deals do. It’s not that the cap hit is bad. It’s actually a steal compared to what they were expected to get on the market place. However, the term is a bit nuts. Obviously the Devils, Lightning and Panthers anticipate that these players will be on long-term injured reserve at some point of these deals, but that shouldn’t be a team’s goal with a contract (nor should it be allowed). Considering this has been a trend as of late, it’ll be interesting to see if the league clamps down on it.
Sam Bennett, Florida Panthers ($8 million AAV x 8 years) – While Bennett’s contract is a “discount” in the sense that it seemed like he would get closer to $9-10 million on the market, this contract is far from the kind of discount the Panthers are used to. The deal will be closer to his value as the cap rises, and he’s earned it based on his play in the playoffs these last two years, but if that version of Bennett doesn’t show up again, this contract is in David Clarkson territory based on the fact that his career-highs are 28 goals and 51 points in the regular season.
Connor Brown, New Jersey Devils ($3 million AAV x 4 years) – In a vacuum, a $3 million cap hit isn’t abhorrent for a player like Brown. It might be $500k to $1 million too expensive, but it’s manageable. However, Brown is a bottom-six player at this stage of his career, and giving players at that level term is rarely a good idea unless you’re getting a discount. The Devils aren’t getting a discount here, so it’s just not the best plan.
Ryan Lindgren, Seattle Kraken ($4.5 million AAV x 4 years) – I had identified Lindgren as a buyer beware target last week, and this deal has more than lived up to that expectation. He’s a top-four defenseman in time on ice alone, as he just hasn’t played at that level for a couple of seasons now. This contract is also bad specifically for the Kraken, as he doesn’t make sense for a team that probably needs to get younger. But based on their moves this summer, they are content on being middling for a few more years. This deal barely missed the cut, with the saving grace being that it’s not as expensive as some of the others.
Alex Romanov, New York Islanders ($6.25 million AAV x 8 years) – When this contract was first announced, I thought Lou Lamoriello had snuck back into the Islanders front office. Based on Romanov’s play this season, it might end up being a solid deal, or even one of value. But Romanov also struggled enough in 2022-23 and 2023-24 that there’s a lot of risk investing this much for this long on one good season.
Cody Ceci/Brian Dumoulin, Los Angeles Kings
$4.5 million AAV x 4 years/$4 million x 3 years
At the end of the 2022-23 season, the Kings had a blueline with Mikey Anderson, Drew Doughty, Sean Durzi, Vladislav Gavrikov, Matt Roy and Sean Walker. It was one of the best defense corps in the league, and you could make an argument that the worst contract of that group was Doughty’s. A bit over two years later, only Anderson and Doughty remain, with Cody Ceci, Brian Dumoulin and Joel Edmundson being the only external replacements, and Doughty probably has the second-best contract of that group.
It took not even two months for us to get a Ken Holland disaster-class of an offseason with the Kings, and that’s highlighted by the contracts he handed out to Ceci and Dumoulin. While neither contract is horrible on its own, the fact Holland signed them both to join a blueline that is already depleted is what got these contracts on the list. Neither defenseman is a massive liability, but Ceci works better when supported by a better player, and Dumoulin is 33. Add in Edmundson’s contract (which cracked last year’s list), and that’s just a lot of money on the blueline invested in sub-par defenders.
Trent Frederic, Edmonton Oilers
$3.85 million AAV x 8 years
What exactly did the Oilers stand to gain from giving Frederic eight years? It’s understandable why Frederic would want that, as this summer was his big chance at a pay day, so he gets that money locked in with a team that will be a Stanley Cup contender for a good chunk of that deal. But for Edmonton, what benefit do they have from having a bottom-six forward stuck on their book for eight years? Even in a rising salary cap world, was Frederic ever going to command a high enough AAV down the road to make this a smarter investment than a series of one or two-year deals in the same span? Plus, if the Oilers realize he isn’t a fit on their roster in a few years, they’re stuck with him unless they pay a premium to move his contract.
From the Oilers’ perspective, it looks like they’re gambling on the Frederic that had 35 goals and 71 points in 161 games in 2022-23 and 2023-24 will be the one that they get for most of this contract, and not the one that has 20 goals and 38 points in the other 177 games of his career. If the latter shows up (and he very well could if he gets minutes with Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl), then maybe this deal pays off. But that’s a lot of ifs for a long-term contract, which you should really only be handing out when you’re mostly certain of the player you’ll get during it.
Nicolas Hague, Nashville Predators
$5.5 million AAV x 4 years
Barry Trotz has seen better days. Maybe not as a general manager, but at least as a head coach, his legacy was much more cemented. He’s made plenty of head-scratching moves in his two plus change years as the Predators’ GM, and Hague is one that falls under the radar but deserves just as much attention. Not only was the trade to acquire him a doozie by giving up the better defenseman in Jeremy Lauzon and a solid forward in Colton Sissons, but Trotz didn’t even save money in the process by signing Hague to almost $1 million more than the two combined (oh, and he retained half Sissons’ salary). Hague has been below replacement-level for most of his career while playing sheltered minutes, so a $5.5 million cap hit is tough to wrap one’s head around.
He’s also a weird fit for the Predators based on their roster. Nashville already has $16.059 million allocated to the left side of their defense in Roman Josi and Brady Skjei, so it doesn’t make sense to pay $5.5 million for Hague to either play on his off side or on the third pair when Lauzon was playing that role quite adequately. The most logical explanation is that they’re starting to look for a way to insulate or find a replacement for Josi as he treats his postural tachycardia syndrome and enters the back half of his 30s, but Hague hasn’t exactly shown anything in his career to suggest that he’s the best option for that.
Tanner Jeannot, Boston Bruins
$3.4 million AAV x 5 years
What dirt does Jeannot have on the rest of the league? That feels like the only plausible explanation for him to have as much value that he does in the league at this point in his career. At least when the Lightning traded five draft picks to acquire him in 2023, you could make the excuse that he was only a year removed from a 24-goal rookie season and seemed like he’d be the next pesky power forward that will help you win in the playoffs. That season is now three years ago, and not only has he not been close to hitting those heights since, he actually hasn’t even scored 24 goals combined since that season – he has only 20 in the last three years, regular season and playoffs.
Looking at the cap hit alone, it’s an overpayment. He hasn’t provided value of any sorts in the past three seasons with a -4.4 goals above replacement in that span, never mind enough to justify $3.4 million per year. You could maybe stomach that cap hit on a one or two-year deal, but the five-year term is just the cherry on top of a garbage sundae. It probably shouldn’t have been a surprise that in the wake of Bennett’s Conn Smythe win, some teams would spend whatever they could to get their own version of him, but the only similarity Jeannot has is the size and physicality. This is easily the worst contract handed out in 2025, and it’s tough to see it being worth it in any form.
Ivan Provorov, Columbus Blue Jackets
$8.5 million AAV x 7 years
You were so close, Columbus. Provorov felt like a disaster contract waiting to happen, and on June 30th, it seemed like the Blue Jackets weren’t going to shoot themselves in the foot by locking him up after it had been well-reported around the trade deadline that they wanted to. But Don Waddell just had to give into those inner voices and open his wallet to bring Provorov back on the final day before free agency, and on one of the most expensive cap hits of the summer.
Provorov was the only player from my Buyer Beware piece to crack the actual worst contracts list, and he probably would have been my pick as the most likely to make this one. His market value has been bigger than his perceived value for a majority of his career, garnering a reputation as a top-four defenseman just by simply playing those minutes, even though he’s never done well in them. His contract now makes him tied for the 16th-highest paid defenseman in the league, but you could name a lot more defenders than that who are better than him. He’s probably even the best player on this list, but he’s been grossly overvalued with this contract that Columbus is stuck with until he’s 35.
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