All-Overpaid Team
Even good players make the list
by Josh Brewster
Hockeytalk.biz | NHL Quick Shots

August 19, 2010 -- Some of these are very good players, some are not.  They have one thing in common:  They’re all overpaid, or coming off seasons during which they invited the criticism…

FORWARDS

Chris Drury
New York Rangers
Center
2009-10 Stats: 77GP: 14-18-32PTS. 
2010-11 Salary: $8M (Cap hit: $7.05)

Considering his style of play, it’s amazing he’s still in the league.  His effectiveness has diminished since signing his 5-year, $35M deal.  After scoring 30 and 37 goals in the first two post-lockout seasons in Buffalo, Drury scored 25, then 22, and last year, a career-low 14.  At 33, he’s looking like another Sabre castoff center, Michael Peca, who similarly spent his final seasons overpaid and banged up. 

Brad Richards
Dallas Stars
Center
2009-10 Stats: 80GP: 24-67-91 284SOG
2010-11 Salary: $7.8M (Cap hit: Same)

An impending UFA as of July 1, 2011, Richards poses an interesting dilemma for his club.  He’s overpaid by at least a million bucks, but he’s the club’s top scorer.  He’ll likely want an equivalent deal (or more) going forward, but is he worth $8M or more?

Sergei Samsonov
Carolina Hurricanes
Left Wing
2009-10 Stats: 72GP: 14-15-29PTS. 
2010-11 Salary: $2.8M (Cap hit: $2.53M)

Samsonov has five 20-goal seasons under his belt, but hasn’t hit that plateau since the 2005-06 season (with Boston and Edmonton).  Scored just 14 last season.

Alex Kovalev
Ottawa Senators
Right Wing
2009-10 Stats: 77GP: 18-31-49
2010-11 Salary: $5M (Cap hit: Same)

12-game goalless streak during the all-important month of March.  16 consecutive games without a goal during November and December. 

Seven of his 18 goals scored in two games: Wakes up in early January after being left off the Russian Olympic roster, scores four goals in one game against Philly.  Scores a hat trick against Carolina in mid-December.  The remaining 11 goals come in Kovalev’s other 75 games played. 

Imagine how good Kovalev would still be, at his advanced age of 37, if he just tried giving a damn once in a while. 

Brad Boyes
St. Louis Blues
Right Wing
Salary: $5M (Cap hit: $4M)

In March, 2008, en route to a 43-goal campaign (his best as a pro), Boyes was rewarded with a contract extension carrying him through the 2011-12 season.  During the first year of the extension, Boyes scored 34 goals, leading the Blues into the postseason, where they were swept by Vancouver, but not before Boyes chipped in two goals in the four series games. 

Everything looked fantastic for Boyes, but last season, he slipped to 14 goals and his shots total dipped to 197, a respectable number but a three-year low (207, 227). 

Boyes is slated to earn $5M this season, then $4.5M and $4M during the next two seasons.  With the aged Keith Tkachuk and Paul Kariya gone, Boyes will see more ice time than ever, and should be able to get back on track. 

DEFENSEMEN

Wade Redden
New York Rangers
Defenseman
75GP: 2-12-14
Salary: $6.5M

Redden has scored 106 goals in his 13 NHL seasons, including 23 during his last three in Ottawa prior to his signing his current 6-year, $39M deal with the Rangers.  Over the past two seasons in New York, only five.

Redden hears boos constantly, and what’s worse, his shots on goal dipped to a career low 66 last season, so he’s not even giving himself a chance to pull out of the multimillion dollar hole he’s dug for himself.  The Blueshirt Boo-Birds have four more seasons of Bronx cheers in their never-satisfied lungs. 

GOALTENDERS

Cristobal Huet
Chicago Blackhawks
Goaltender

Well, what can be said other than like Tim Thomas, Huet was upstaged.  The degree of upstaging, however, can’t be more unbearable for Huet, since Antti Niemi won the Cup.  Worse for Huet, the team didn’t even give him his job back, rather calling in Marty Turco at a veteran price of $1.3M, and basically handed Turco the reigns a month-and-a-half prior to camp. 

Tim Thomas
Boston Bruins
Goaltender
Salary: $6M (Cap hit: $5M)

And you thought Chicago had problems with Cris Huet?  Look no further than Beantown for the next-most overpaid goaltender, Olympic Silver Medalist Tim Thomas, who earned the valuable coin in Vancouver backing up Ryan Miller. 

Thomas lost his starting job to rookie Tuuka Rask last season, and finished having appeared in only 43 games.  His numbers were good, but Rask’s were great: 

Thomas: 43GP, 17-18-5, 2.56GAA, .915SV%.  Rask: 45GP, 22-12-5, 1.97GAA, .931SV%.

In fairness to Thomas, those are outstanding numbers for a rookie, and it’s entirely possible that the 36-year-old Thomas will regain his starting spot during Rask’s sophomore campaign.  But at $6M this season, then $5M and $3M over the next two seasons, respectively, Thomas is looking like a prime candidate for the Bruins’ trade deadline auction block in March 2011. 

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