To give and receive: 10 bargain contracts in the NHL
You've probably tucked those customary black dress socks deep in a lesser-used drawer by now, never to be seen again. But although you may have failed to unwrap any this holiday season, the gifts that keep on giving do exist among us.
Here are a handful to celebrate the season of giving and receiving: the top ten bang-for-your-buck NHL contracts.
1) Max Pacioretty - 6 years, $27 million
Pacioretty earned a long-term extension from the Canadiens following a 65-point season in 2011-12 and has responded with 67 goals (including a career-high 39 last season) in 153 games since.
2) Tyler Seguin - 6 years, $34.5 million
The NHL's leading goal-scorer, with absolutely no ceiling in sight, is signed through 2019 with a cap hit of $5.75 million.
3) Wayne Simmonds - 6 years, $23.85 million
Tied for 11th in goals this season and a menace on the power play, Simmonds will make just a shade under $4 million per year through 2019. The Wayne Train costs roughly a half million less, but has plenty more steam than both Vincent Lecavalier and R.J. Umberger.
4) Kyle Okposo - 5 years, $14 million
Okposo has scored at nearly a point-per-game pace over the last two seasons and has one more year at a cap hit of just $2.8 million. He will have scored more than 100 goals and 300 points in seven seasons and made less than $20 million by the end of this year.
5) Tommy Wingels - 3 years, $7.425 million
An emerging point producer paid like an ancillary part, Wingels will make less than $3 million per season through 2017.
6) Andrew Cogliano - 4 years, $12 million
The NHL's ironman will do a little bit of everything, every night through 2018 for the Ducks. Cogliano hasn't missed a single game since entering the league in 2007.
7) Mark Giordano - 5 years, $20.1 million
A legitimate Norris Trophy candidate and the NHL's top scorer among blue-liners is making less than Jake Gardiner, Nikita Nikitin and four defensemen receiving money from the Flyers.
8) Victor Hedman - 5 years, $20 million
A buy-low investment, Hedman has played far beyond the standard rate for young defensemen he received after two seasons in Tampa Bay. He will cost just $4 million against the cap through 2017.
9) Craig Anderson - 4 years, $12.75 million
Anderson has 89 wins, 15 shutouts, a 2.59 goals-against average and .921 save percentage since joining the Senators five years ago, and will have cost less than $4.2 million per season through 2017.
10) Jimmy Howard - 6 years, $31.75 million
Howard has factored in the top ten of each major goaltending category in three of the last four seasons (minus an injury-filled 2013-14 campaign) and is posting career numbers this year at a shade under $5.3 million.