Next time you get riled about bailout-seeking CEOs who take home millions and millions, remember there are more than 400 NHL players with salaries that have six zeroes attached to the number. And, like the big bosses, the performance doesn't always justify the outlay.
No wonder the players who bring great returns on investments are appreciated so much by their teams. With nearly one-third of this season's schedule complete, here's a look at some of the best bargains -- and busts -- so far.
Bargains
1. Johan Franzen, Red Wings: The left winger with a cap hit of $942,000 could have earned this title late last season when he erupted as a scorer. Franzen scored 28 goals in a 32-game period before suffering a concussion in the Western Conference finals, but has picked up where he left off with 11 goals in his first 19 games.
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| David Booth is Florida's top scorer with 12 goals. (Getty Images) |
3. Kris Versteeg, Blackhawks: Chicago picked up the compact right winger in a minor league deal nearly two years ago, but rarely had him on the roster until this season. Now Versteeg is playing on the top line and producing enough points to be getting attention for rookie of the year, while earning just under $500,000.
4. Brandon Dubinsky, Rangers: This franchise isn't noted for developing its own talent, but Dubinsky has turned into a rare prize. He had a fine rookie season last year, spending much of it on the top two lines. This season he is again one of New York's offensive sparkplugs, sitting third on the team in scoring while taking up just $640,000 of cap space.
5. Kyle Wellwood, Canucks: He gets the reclamation award for turning around not only his season, but likely his career. Wellwood was on the scrap heap last summer when Vancouver gave him another shot. But he didn't impress and was ticketed for the minors early this season. Injuries forced the Canucks to keep him around and now Wellwood, who makes $990,000, is the second-leading goal scorer on the team.
6. David Booth, Panthers: Young forwards with great speed and a scoring touch can earn premium salaries, which makes Florida fortunate to have David Booth at only $700,000. The former Michigan State star leads the Panthers with 12 goals after scoring 22 times in his first full campaign last season.
7. Tyler Kennedy, Penguins: It's easy to get lost in the shuffle around the Penguins, especially when your $550,000 salary is among the lowest on the team. But Kennedy has managed to grab the spotlight a few times this season. He's fourth on the team in scoring, and is closing in on his offensive totals for all of last season.
8. Mikhail Grabovski, Maple Leafs: The Canadiens had no room for him and probably several doubts, so they dumped him off on Toronto, where Grabovski has turned into one of the team's most dangerous players. He only costs the Leafs $850,000, but he leads them in goals and is fourth in overall points.
9. Brian Boucher, Sharks: He was once a starting NHL goalie who basically played himself out of that role, but he lucked out when he landed in San Jose late last season. He rarely played, but this season Boucher has been called on more because of injury problems to starter Evgeni Nabokov. Boucher has been brilliant for the league's best teams, going 7-1-1 so far with two shutouts and a scintillating 1.89 goals-against average.
10. Tomas Fleischmann, Capitals: Another of the young players that coach Bruce Boudreau had in the Caps' minor league system. Fleischmann has been getting to play more this season and already has 10 goals, as many as he had all last season. On Washington's scoring chart, that trails only Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin, who both make a lot more than Fleischmann's $725,000
Busts
1. Marian Gaborik, Wild: They can't sign the $6 million man and they can't trade him, which is the worst of all worlds for the Wild. Minnesota seems resigned to not keeping the pending free agent after this season, but the team can't even begin to explore a deal because the injury-prone Gaborik has been on the shelf since the season's first week.
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| Marian Gaborik has been out since the first week. (Getty Images) |
3. Alexei Kovalev, Canadiens: They've been seriously thinking Stanley Cup in Montreal since last summer, in large part because Kovalev was expected to follow up on his great 2007-08 season. The veteran Russian is among the highest-paid Canadiens at $4.5 million and led the team in scoring last season, but he has only five goals so far, and none in 14 games.
4. Maxim Afinogenov, Sabres: Buffalo drafted Afinogenov a decade ago, thinking he might be the next Pavel Bure. Now the Sabres can't wait to get rid him. He's a free agent after the season, but in the meantime he's eating up $3.5 million in cap space with only one goal and a minus-10 to show for it.
5. Mathieu Schneider, Thrashers: Atlanta doesn't attract top-shelf free agents, so it has to make costly deals like landing Schneider for $5.6 million. The idea was for the veteran defenseman to mentor rookie Zach Bogosian and to boost the power play with his quarterbacking skills, but it hasn't worked out. Bogosian suffered a season-ending injury early and the team power play success is up only slightly. And Schneider is minus-7.
6. Sergei Samsonov, Hurricanes: The last year of a contract proved to be the right incentive last season for Samsonov, who played very well after Carolina picked him up in the second half and earned a new three-year deal worth $2.5 million annually. Samsonov scored 14 goals in 38 games last season for the Hurricanes; he has two in 25 games this season.
7. Erik Cole, Oilers: Samsonov made Cole expendable because the power forward, who has been averaging 27 goals a season since the lockout, makes $4 million. The Oilers had the budget room and figured Cole would bolster their attack, but he has only three goals so far and only seven points.
8. Tomas Vokoun, Panthers: Florida figured Vokoun would be at least a poor man's Roberto Luongo when it traded for him and his $5.7 million annual salary until 2010. But the jury is still out. Vokoun had several moments of brilliance last season, but nearly as many questionable ones and now he is fighting for his job with backup Craig Anderson, who is making one-tenth the salary.
9. Mike Fisher, Senators: The Ottawa center was one of the team's top two or three players during its 2007 Stanley Cup Finals run, and got a five-year deal with $4.2 million a season as a result. He's looked at as a second-line center who plays a solid two-way game, and Fisher put up the kind of numbers he was expected to last season. But Fisher has only scored three times this season and needed 10 games to get his first goal.
10. Jose Theodore, Capitals: Washington should probably ask for a do-over with Theodore. The Caps signed the free agent for $4.5 million a season, which keeps Theodore in upper tax bracket among goalies, but his numbers are not justifying his expense. Theodore's save percentage and goals-against average rank near the bottom of the league and he is not even the clear-cut No. 1 these days in Washington.
