What is with these insanely long contracts being thrown around in the NHL these days? First Sidney Crosby signed a massive 12-year $104.4 million extension with the Pittsburgh Penguins (where he will become the highest paid player in the NHL per year), then Zach Parise and Ryan Suter also agreed to 13-year contracts with Minnesota. Finally Shea Weber signed a 14-year $110 million deal with Nashville.
Was I asleep when this decided to become a thing? Although I do agree with the idea of keeping players on a team for a long period of time to become a “face” of the franchise, if this starts to pick up speed and the rest of the league follows suit, it will really make the excitement of trade deadline day and the free agency frenzy drop significantly as all the high profile players will be locked into teams with massive contracts. One of the things that make the sport so entertaining year after year is the fact that a team can completely change in the post/offseason, going from a non-playoff contender to one with a fighting chance.
Now it doesn’t usually happen as fast as that, but with these big contracts it’ll most likely become less prominent. How is the offseason supposed to be exciting without any trades? If it keeps up I may have to resort to watching baseball in the summer.
What do you think about these long contracts in the NHL this year? Agree, disagree? Let us know in the comments below.