The best contracts signed in 2023 NHL free agency so far

The nature of free agency makes it very difficult for teams to make smart moves. Considering that every player usually has several suitors trying to convince them to sign with them, it always results in teams overpaying players, so the only way to get good deals is to wait out the feeding frenzy and pick at the remains or be one step ahead of everyone else.

Because of that, the bad contracts signed in free agency are always given more attention while the good ones might get some when the player does well the following season. So since I already chastised teams who signed some bad contracts, why not also celebrate some of the smart signings we’ve seen so far in free agency? Sure, not all of them will be perfect, but the low risk makes the deals palatable before we even see them in action.

First, I’ll start with several honorable mentions, contracts that are still really good but (a) they could have been signed for slightly less money or term, or (b) the player could be mediocre just as much as they could be great on their new team.

Tyler Bertuzzi, Toronto Maple Leafs ($5.5M AAV x one year) — Bertuzzi was one of my picks to end up with a bad contract this offseason, but the Leafs managed to avoid that by getting Bertuzzi in at market value, but on a one-year deal. He gives them a left winger that they’ve lacked since Zach Hyman departed two years ago and has some tenacity and goal-scoring ability, creating much-needed secondary offense in Toronto behind the big four up front.

Jonathan Drouin, Colorado Avalanche ($825K AAV x one year) — Drouin has struggled to stay healthy and provide offense when he is healthy, resulting in a six-year career in Montreal that he’ll probably want to forget. Perhaps a reunion with Halifax Moosehead teammate Nathan MacKinnon will help rejuvenate his career? At the very least, it’s a smart gamble to add depth for the Avs for super cheap, but the uncertainty keeps it as an honorable mention for now.

Dmitry Orlov, Carolina Hurricanes ($7.75M AAV x two years) — It’s a bit pricier than I would like, but only doing so for two years saves the deal for the Canes, and it adds yet another fantastic defenseman to the Canes blueline (and potentially provides a bit of insurance once Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce’s contracts end next season.) Even better, Orlov provides a unique dynamic to their blueline, and if he can continue the offensive touch he had in Boston, it will certainly help the Canes’ scoring issues.

Ilya Sorokin, New York Islanders ($8.25M AAV x eight years) — This is an extension instead of a true free-agent contract, but it’s still a great deal to lock down one of the best goalies in the league for the Islanders. It only gets an honorable mention because there’s always some concern with long-term contracts to goalies and it goes until he’s 36, so there’s definitely a point where it will go from the best goalie contract to the worst goalie contract, but for now, it’s the Isles’ lone win amongst four long-term contracts signed on July 1.

Daniel Sprong, Detroit Red Wings ($2M AAV x one year) — Sprong has been one of the more underrated depth scorers in the NHL for years now, and he had a productive season with the Seattle Kraken to finally get his first sort-of payday. It’s still a great deal for Detroit, and who knows what he could produce if he was further up in the lineup? This is the kind of signing they should be making right now, not J.T. Compher and Justin Holl.

James van Riemsdyk, Boston Bruins ($1M AAV x one year) — The Bruins are cap-strapped to hell this season after putting all of their eggs in last season’s basket, so they needed to make a couple of low-risk gambles to try and fill out their roster this season. van Riemsdyk isn’t the elite scoring forward he once was, but he’s still good for around 40 points and makes for a solid middle-six option in their lineup.

Connor Brown, Edmonton Oilers ($4M AAV x one year) — I highlighted Brown as a potential buy-low candidate in unrestricted free agency in my bargain bin article because he could be signed at a relatively cheap price, as he was coming off a season where he only played four games and possibly wanted to sign a show-me deal. That’s exactly what he did, taking a league minimum cap hit and reuniting with former Erie Otters teammate Connor McDavid on the Edmonton Oilers. The last time these two played together, Brown led the OHL in scoring with 45 goals, 83 assists, and 128 points.

The lone downside is the performance bonuses that come with it could come back to haunt the Oilers. The main reason Brown signed for as cheap as he did was that he spent a long enough time on long-term injured reserve last season to be eligible for performance bonuses, which is where he’ll make most of his money. The only requirement is that he plays 10 games and he gets $3.225M, which for the Oilers gets carried over to next season. It’s a low bar to hit, but it essentially kicks the can down the road for another year and may cause problems next offseason for the Oilers, but with the cap going up, that might not be as big of a concern as it would’ve been this season.

Matt Duchene, Dallas Stars ($3M AAV x one year) — Ah, the beauty of the buyout. It can make a player go from having one of the worst contracts in the league to one of the best in the league. Duchene isn’t quite what he used to be, but he still comes with excellent skating and puts up productive seasons, and he works very well when he isn’t the guy down the middle. Great player, but not worth $8M for four more years at 32.

It’s a great move for Dallas, because for next season it gives them a really strong top-nine forward group, and also gives them the option to move Tyler Seguin down into a lesser role to let him excel even more. And unlike all the other one-year contracts on this list, Duchene doesn’t come with any performance bonuses that will hurt his team’s salary cap next season. Dallas still has plenty of work to do on its blueline to become a true Cup contender, but Duchene still looks to improve what was already a great team.

Max Pacioretty, Washington Capitals ($4M x one year) — Pacioretty is in the same boat as Brown, coming off an injury-plagued season and looking to prove that he still has game. He’s five years older than Brown, though, so there is a lot more concern about whether his Achilles’ tendon injury will affect his play and slow him down than there is with Brown, but Pacioretty is also a better player when healthy, so there’s a lot more upside if this does pay off.

Also like Brown’s, Pacioretty’s performance bonuses are related to games played, with him getting $1M after 10 games, another $500k at 15 games, and the final $500k at 20 games. However, the Caps are better suited to eat some of that this season than the Oilers, so they’re paying $2M of the AAV for this season, so next season’s cap hit if the performance bonuses are hit are much lower AND they have more cap space in 2023-24 with Anthony Mantha and Tom Wilson’s contracts coming to an end. Plus, if the Caps aren’t competitive again this season, but Pacioretty is back to his 30-40 goal pace, they can move him for a decent return at the deadline.

Evan Rodrigues, Florida Panthers ($3M x four years) — Proving that you don’t need to sign a short-term deal to have a good contract in free agency, the Florida Panthers made another smart addition to their forward group for a relatively low price by bringing in Rodrigues. He’s established himself as a 40-ish point player these past couple of seasons playing on good Penguins and Avalanche teams, and he’ll likely fit in seamlessly with the Panthers in their high-scoring top-nine group.

Where I’m really intrigued with this deal is if the Panthers’ development skills will allow Rodrigues to take an even bigger step forward. Matthew Tkachuk, Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Anthony Duclair, Brandon Montour, Gustav Forsling, the list goes on of players that have joined the Panthers in the past few seasons and excelled and in some cases have turned into high-end or elite talent when no one expected they would. If that happens to Rodrigues as well, this deal goes from being a great piece of business from Florida to a massive steal.

Blake Wheeler, New York Rangers ($1.1M x one year) — Wheeler is far from the elite playmaking winger that he once was, and definitely wasn’t worth his cap hit of $8.25M, but he’s still a really good player and a smart addition to any team, especially at an almost-league minimum cap hit. The Rangers were in desperate need of help on the right wing with both Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko out the door, so bringing on Wheeler is a solid replacement for one of them with significantly less money attached to it.

Wheeler’s contract also comes with a performance bonus as a 36-year-old, and while the conditions of that bonus are unknown, it comes at a minuscule $300k to their cap hit, which barely puts a dent on their salary cap space for next season. They still need another right winger to put their top six back into similar form as last season’s, but they could also just run with Jimmy Vesey in the top six like last year until the trade deadline and swing a deal for one then. Regardless, Wheeler should at least guarantee that they don’t have to trade for two, and if he ends up not playing well, it’s a cap hit that’s easy to hide.