The seventh Stanley Cup match has ended, the offseason has begun - a traditional time when players are shuffled between teams. On June 15, a contract buyback window opened, on June 21 - a draft for beginners, and on July 1 - a market for free agents. In this rating, we will tell you which famous hockey players signed the biggest NHL contracts in 2019.
10. Semyon Varlamov
Age: 31 years
Price: 5 million dollars
Pleasantly tickles the patriotic pride of the Russians the fact that our compatriot opens the list of highly paid hockey players. He came to replace Robin Lehner, who in early summer of this year signed a contract with Chicago Blackhawks.
Semyon Varlamov will have the Islanders goalkeeper, like almost his entire sports career. By the way, the “Islanders” already have one Russian goalkeeper - Ilya Sorokin. In theory, in a year Ilya should change the Continental Hockey League to the National. Thus, the leadership has already prepared him a mentor in the person of Varlamov. It is important that both hockey players have the same agent.
However, the prospects for this contract are not yet clear. Hockey fans are concerned about the health of Varlamov, who two years ago underwent several surgeries.
The manager of the “Islanders”, Lou Lamoriello, however, is sure that with a reasonable load Varlamov will serve as a valuable acquisition for the team. Moreover, recently a new mod has appeared among NHL teams - the so-called "load management". Less and less, we will observe how the top goalkeepers of the hockey world spend 60 games per season.
9. Robin Lehner
Age: 27 years
Price: 5 million dollars
If not Russian, then the Swede - it seems that by this rule new NHL top contracts are concluded. Lehner changed the Islanders to Chicago Blackhawks, but for the team, the appearance of Lena is a kind of insurance for Corey Crawford.
In recent years, Corey was unlucky - he suffered one injury after another. However, who wants to part with a two-time Stanley Cup winner? Therefore, the “Hawks” were willing to do much to keep their goalkeeper. Last summer, they even signed a one-year deal with Cam Ward for $ 3 million to replace Crofuord if he couldn’t recover after another injury.
And in 2019, Ward was replaced by Lehner. The Swede is a stronger player, and if Crawford does not manage to play out in full force (or he gets another injury), then Lener can serve him as a worthy replacement. And the Blackhawks are willing to pay for both.
8. Gustav Nyquist
Age: 29 years
Price: 5.5 million dollars
It is likely that the 2018 World Champion (as part of the Swedish national team) will become one of the leading players at Columbus Blue Jackets, especially after the departure of Panarin.
Usually Nyquist played in the second line, over the past six seasons he scored 20-odd goals and scored 60 points. In general, this player is universal and can play the role of both the central striker and the extreme. Perhaps Nyquist will be put to play with his compatriot Alexander Wennberg in the hope that chemistry will arise between them, but not love, but play.
7. Tyler Myers
Age: 29 years
Price: 6 million dollars
After Eric Karlsson renegotiated the contract in San Jose, two good defenders remained in the hockey market - Tyler Myers and Jake Gardiner.
Vancouver Canucks were willing to pay for a worthy player who shows good results in both attack and defense. And for his impressive two-meter growth, Myers is very mobile and, of course, in the defense line he will look very impressive. However, alas, his statistics are poor.
6. Mats Zuccharello
Age: 31 years
Price: 6 million dollars
This hockey player played all his life in the left wing, but the Minnesota Wild bought it for the right wing. The main value for the club is the offensive ability of Zuccharello. He is one of those rare players who is able to play his own aggressive game, and does it very talentedly. Yes, it happens that he gets entangled with a puck in the net, but you can close your eyes to this.
However, this year Matsu is 32 years old, and over the past two years of the game, his performance has slightly decreased.
5. Joe Pavelsky
Age: 34 years
Price: 7 million dollars
Pavelsky is a very successful acquisition for Dallas Stars. In each of the past six seasons, he received more than 0.8 points per game, and last season he scored 38 goals.
And we will not lose sight of intangible reasons - anyone who has seen at least one San Hose Sharks fight involving Pavelsky noticed how a hockey player literally energizes the team. He is ready for anything to win, and this is transmitted to the other players.
And although the “Sharks" struggled to keep him, and Pavelsky himself liked California, but the magic of $ 7 million turned out to be stronger. Now California palms will be replaced for Pavelski by the beauties of Texas.
The only drawback of such an expensive contract may be the age of Joe, who will turn 35 on July 11th. Moreover, in his entire sports career, he missed only one game in 2011. In fact, we mean that the more games - the greater the load and the greater the likelihood that the health of a hockey player will set him an insidious bandwagon.
4. Anders Lee
Age: 28 years
Price: 7 million dollars
Unlike many hockey players represented in the ranking of the highest paid NHL stars, Lee did not change the team. The Islanders simply decided to renegotiate a contract with him.
Alas, the team failed to grab a valuable prize - Artemy Panarin - however, the loss of both Panarin and his own captain would have cost too much. A few days later, Anders turns 29 years old, and he is at the peak of his sports career. Over the past three seasons, he scored more than 50 points and scored 102 goals. Yes, replacing it would be difficult. In general, a seven-year contract for $ 7 million for Lee is even a rather modest amount.
3. Matthew Duchenne
Age: 28 years
Price: $ 8 million
This Canadian hockey player fits perfectly into the three center Nashville Predators, which also includes excellent (and add, dear) players - Ryan Johansen and Kyle Turris.
And although this trinity costs a lot (Johansen and Duchenne - $ 8 million a year, and Turris - $ 6 million), however, the Predators desperately want to form a kind of shock core and move on to a more aggressive strategy.
The leadership of the team has long been planning this step. A few months ago, fans were alarmed by the fact that Duchenne purchased property at Predators headquarters, Nashville. And when the Nashville Predators parted with a talented midfielder Subban, the signing of a contract with Matthew took for granted.
2. Sergey Bobrovsky
Age: 30 years
Price: 10 million dollars
When it became clear that the Blue Jackets and Bobrovsky were starting to move away from each other, the goalkeeper immediately became a welcome prize for many hockey teams.
Two-time winner of the Vezina Trophy is considered one of the best goalkeepers in the NHL at the moment. And then the Panther’s strategy changed - they went from sleep mode to activity and seriously intend to compete for the Stanley Cup. Of course, the deal would be even better if Bobrovsky was complete with Panarin, but even one of the former stars of Colombia is already very good.
The only problem is the age of Bobrovsky, respectable for a sports career. Unlike wine, goalkeepers do not age so beautifully.
However, if the load is not too great, the Russian NHL star will delight fans for more than one year.
In general, sports critics note that this ten-million-dollar contract is a great deal in the short term, especially if Panther strategists can still get the coveted goblet.
1. Artemy Panarin
Age: 27 years
Price: $ 11.6 million
The first place in the list of the most expensive NHL contracts of 2019 went to one of the key Rangers players. The mere presence of Panarin in this club inspires hockey fans with the hope that the Rangers will win the Stanley Cup before the brilliant Henrik Lundqvist ends his sports career.
Panarin came to the Rangers at a difficult moment: the team had just completed a complete restructuring, updated the roster and now seriously intends to get the cup after a break of almost a quarter century. However, the purchasing tactics of the Rangers remained unchanged - they are still looking for the brightest players in the sports horizon and are not afraid to spend money on them.
As a result of the deal with the Rangers, Panarin turned into the most expensive hockey player from Russia, and in the world he is second only to the Canadian striker Conor McDavid.
