Ranking The Best Value Contracts Of The NHL Season

Even though the Conference Finals are loaded with star power, each of the four teams has an under-the-radar signing that was a key factor to getting this deep into the playoffs.

Whether we look at the current playoffs goal leader Evander Kane, who’s getting paid just over $2 million for his role with the Edmonton Oilers, or Igor Shesterkin who broke out in his age 26 seasons making just $5.6 million from the New York Rangers, your wins can’t all come from the stars.

But, who produced the most value of the free agents signed ahead of the 2022 season?

By comparing the player’s Average Annual Value (AAV) to a skater’s Point Shares or goalie’s , we can see who really provided the best return on the team’s investment.

Anthony DeAngelo (D, CAR)

The top signing of the 2021 Free Agent class according to this comparison is the Carolina Hurricanes’ Anthony DeAngelo, who posted collected 9.3 Point Shares.

The former first round pick in 2014 signed a 1 year, $1,000,000 contract with the Hurricanes, and went on to have a career year. With 10 goals and 41 assists, he trailed his career-high in points by 2 in 2019, but in that season his +/- was 18 points higher (18 in 2019-20, 30 in 2021-22).

The main reason Deangelo went $2.5 million under the league average for a player with his experience is the fact that he only played 6 games in 2020-21 in his final year with the Rangers.

There was not an apparent injury reported for DeAngelo. In fact, it came off an overtime loss to Pittsburgh where DeAngelo was placed on waivers after making a joke at starting goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, which led to him getting punched on the bench.

According to Sportsnet’s article, that was the last straw, which allowed the Hurricanes to bring in the 37th-best skater in the NHL according to Point Shares for next to nothing.

But, as we saw in Game Seven of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Rangers ultimately got the last laugh.

Erik Haula (LW, BOS)

If it were not for DeAngelo taking the upper hand offensively this year, the Dallas Stars’ Ryan Suter would have been the representative veteran contract that paid off for the club.

Instead, 30-year old Erik Haula will take that honor for the skaters, after he signed a 2-year, $4.75 million dollar contract.

With an AAV of $2,375,000, Haula finished in the top-200 players for Point Shares with 4.8, which was the highest of any skater over 30 that was a free agent heading into the season.

In a different way that DeAngelo, Haula got his deal coming off a downward point production since his career-high 55 in 2017-18. In that time, he went from the Vegas Golden Knights to the Carolina Hurricanes, the Florida Panthers and the Nashville Predators before the Boston Bruins gave him the 2-year deal.

And with a season still to go, the Bruins can be confident in their low-risk investment that paid his dividends early.

Frederik Andersen (G, CAR)

And for the top return on a free agent goaltender, Carolina wins the award again with their signing of Frederik Andersen.

Andersen had the third-best save percentage in the NHL, with a .922 in 52 games played. He also posted a 2.17 Goals Against Average and 83.4 Goal Allowed Percentage, all within the top-10 of qualified goaltenders.

After signing a two-year, $9 million dollar deal, Andersen gave a much greater return than his 29th-best AAV of all goalies in the NHL.

The only unfortunate part of his season was the length, as the starting goaltender suffered a season-ending lower body injury that kept him out of the playoffs.

If not for this injury, the value deals made with DeAngelo, Andersen, and others may have been enough to hoist the Stanley Cup for the first time since 2006.

Instead, it will rely on the depth of the four teams stills standing, all filled with players not on the radar of the casual fan just yet.