Ryan drops a bomb this afternoon and goes with his top 5 overpaid players. Unleash the debate!!!!!
1. Wade Redden, NYR
09/10 Salary: $8 million
Cap hit: $6.5 million
Years left: 5 years
Redden is making disgusting money, well beyond his worth. Glen Sather gave him a 6-year deal last summer, and it will go down as one of the worst contracts ever. His contract will hurt the Rangers when the salary cap goes down next summer. He’s off to an ok start this season, but that doesn’t hide his 26-point campaign from a year ago. Not exactly the numbers you want from your $8 million offensive defenseman.
2. Martin Erat, NSH
09/10 Salary: $5.25 million
Cap hit: $4.5 million
Years left: 6 years
The fact that he’s the highest-paid Predator should speak for itself. I don’t know what GM David Poile was thinking the day he offered this extension, but bravo to Erat for taking it. Erat honestly doesn’t deserve this type of money. He benefits from the success of others, and doesn’t take it upon himself to make something happen. And when he does try, it never works. If he spent as much time working in the offensive zone as he does dipsy-doodling in the neutral zone, he might be able to score a bit more. As a Preds follower, I’m sick of his act.
3. Scott Gomez, MTL
09/10 Salary: $8 million
Cap hit: $7.357 million
Years left: 5 years
Here’s another poor contract dealt out by Glen Sather. Gomez is a solid player and all, but he’s not an $8 million-type player. I’ve never thought highly of him, and he peaked in 2005/06 (84 points), by far his career-high. He doesn’t have that great of a two-way game, further justifying how bad this contract is. I was surprised the Habs took on this contract via trade, and it will come back to bite ‘em in the rear sooner or later.
4. Cristobal Huet, CHI
09/10 Salary: $5.625 million
Cap hit: $5.625 million
Years left: 3 years
Huet definitely earned his money at the end of the 07/08 season when he helped Washington get into the playoffs as a deadline pickup. But the Frenchman has not started more than 40 games in a season, and can be a total sieve on any given night. The fact that the ‘Hawks should be looking for a way to get rid of him less than a year and a half after signing him tells you all you need to know. Everyone knows his weakness between the pipes (high glove), and he couldn’t stop a bouncing puck out of the corner on Saturday.
5. Chris Drury, NYR
Cap hit: $7.05 million
Years left: 3 years
Glen Sather strikes again! If you solely look at on-ice production, there’s no way Drury can be worth upwards of $8 mil. He’s a #2 center that scores around 60 points every year. He hasn’t come close to the player he was in Buffalo in the 06/07 season. I think he’s a good captain in this league, which is why he’s not higher on this list. I just can’t justify why he’s making that much for what he does (production wise).
Honorable mention:
Brian Campbell, CHI ($7.14M)
Roman Hamrlik, MTL ($5.5M)
Shawn Horcoff, EDM ($7M)
Brian Rolston, NJ ($5M)
Michal Rozsival, NYR ($6M)
Please note how many gaffes Sather has made here….4 in 10 which is about oh…40% of this list (including the honorable mentions). That is one seriously scary stat. We will talk more about this on the podcast tonight starting at 8pm ET.
