2006-2007 Salaries….were they worth it?
With all the “this coming season” predictions I thought I’d take a step back and look at the 2006-2007 season that just passed us and discuss three things about the top 34 highest paid players in the NHL (I say 34 because I’m not including Yashin, we all know he was likely the biggest and most obvious bust), I am also not holding it against players whom were injured, however feel free to use a point per game percentage in those cases, take a look into the following:
Who you thought was the biggest bust for their salary?
Who was the best deal for the salary?
Who performed exactly as advertised compared to their paycheck?
Jaromir Jagr – $8.3 Million
Brad Richards – $7.8 Million
Nicklas Lidstrom – $7.6 Million
Mats Sundin – $7.6 Million
Patrik Elias – $7.5 Million
Zdeno Chara – $7.5 Million
Vincent Lecavalier – $7.1 Million
Bryan McCabe – $7.1 Million
Jarome Iginla – $7 Million
Ed Jovanovski – $7 Million
Nikolai Khabibulin – $6.75 Million
Scott Niedermayer – $6.75 Million
Joe Thornton – $6.67 Million
Wade Redden – $6.5 Million
Chris Pronger – $6.25 Million
Sergei Fedorov – $6 Million
Martin Havlat – $6 Million
Roberto Luongo – $6 Million
Markus Naslund – $6 Million
Marian Hossa – $6 Million
Martin St. Louis – $6 Million
Marty Turco – $6 Million
Robert Blake – $6 Million
Peter Forsberg – $5.75 Million
Joe Sakic – $5.75 Million
Jose Theodore – $5.5 Million
Olaf Kolzig – $5.45 Million
Todd Bertuzzi – $5.29 Million
Simon Gagne – $5.25 Million
Martin Brodeur – $5.2 Million
Scott Gomez – $5 Million
Marc Savard – $5 Million
Daniel Briere – $5 Million
Pavel Kubina – $5 Million
First off, how the hell has Broduer managed to only be the 30th highest paid player….is it just me or should he be #1 or #2 according to the fact that he owns 3 Cup Rings, 3 Vezina trophies, Olympic Gold Medal, first with a 1.92 goals-against average in all playoff appearances, second on the league’s all-time playoffs shutout list with 22 (behind only Patrick Roy who he will pass for sure)… this just shows how messed up salaries are in the NHL…guys that haven’t accomplished anything like Briere of this year, Yashin’s contract, Mats Sundin, Ed Jovanovski, Wade Reddan, Markus Naslund, Zdeno Chara, Jarome Iginla, Jose Theodore, and MARTY FRIGGING TURCO are all getting paid more than him and have accomplished nothing in comparison to what Mr.Brodeur has. So what’s the problem here, is Martin Brodeur being generous and purposely taking a lesser paycheck for the good of the Devils or has he just had his contract years fall at the wrong time?
Anyway, this wasn’t meant to be all about Brodeur but as I did the research that kinda pissed me off.
My votes go as follows:
Who you thought was the biggest bust for their salary? Ed Jovanovski – while he did only play 54 games he only tallied 29 points and was -6, according to my calculations that would be a 43 point season if he played a full 82 games for a 7 million dollar dman, which makes him a bigger bust than many say Brian McCabe was, in my opinion.
Who was the best deal for the salary? Martin Broduer – no reason necessary as far as I’m concerned…well that and I kinda already said it in the above paragraph.
Who performed exactly as advertised compared to their paycheck? – Lidstrom, Pronger, Luongo, Lecavalier – any of those guys played up to their billing from an NHL salary standpoint, choosing one I’d have to say Lecavalier was dead on penny for penny as Luongo could be paid more and still be worth it as could Pronger and Lidstrom…not by much but they could (comparing them to other paychecks signed this summer).
Other notable contracts that are way out of whack from my point of view would be:
Brad Richards and his 7.8 Million contract
Sundin and his 7.6 Million
McCabe and his 7.1 (I had no idea it was that much, I thought he was a 5-6 million dman…apparently not)
Fedorov and his 6 million
Theodore and his 5.5 million
After taking a look at this list and reading my comments, what are your thoughts…am I way off base in my opinion?