Colorado Avalanche’s 5 Worst Contracts of the Salary Cap Era – The Hockey Writers – Colorado Avalanche

Part of being a perennial contender means being shrewd and finding good value when re-signing your own players or reaching out to free agents. Colorado Avalanche General Manager Joe Sakic is finding that out now thanks to some huge deals (like Cale Makar’s record-setting deal).

While the most recent additions have yet to be judged, there have been some major misses since the beginning of the salary cap era. Who makes the cut as the worst of the worst? These five deals stand out as the worst contracts handed out by the Avalanche since the start of the salary cap era.

5.) PA Parenteau – 4 Years, $16 Million (2012)

PA Parenteau had been a solid addition when signed to a new contract, coming off a career-high 67 points with the New York Islanders. And he was actually quite good that first lockout-shortened season, scoring 18 times for 43 points in 48 games.

Parenteau had a noticeable fall-off in his second season before being shipped to the Montreal Canadiens in the summer of 2014. The Avalanche were smart to act early; he would register just 22 points in 55 games for the Canadiens before being bought out.

Legacy players always present a tough situation when it comes to contracts at the end of their career. It’s even tougher when you give up a first-round pick to get him. That’s what happened when then-GM Francois Giguere forked over a high pick to land the veteran during the 2007-08 season.

Giguere then rewarded Foote, presumably for his past contributions, with this deal. His ice time started to shrink, his already thin offensive game had all but disappeared, and even the underlying numbers showed how bad he was. He played out the deal, plus one more season, before calling it quits.

3.) Scott Hannan – 4 Years, $18 Million (2007)

Giguere looked to make a big splash in 2007, and this was one of his two big additions. Hannan had been a defensively sound player with minor offensive upside when the Avalanche gave him this deal ahead of 2007-08.

Unfortunately for both parties, Hannan was well on the downswing. His ice time and performance on both ends of the ice took a noticeable dip. He managed just 58 points in 322 games with the Avalanche, though they were at least able to recoup something from him by trading him for Tomas Fleischmann (21 points in 22 games) during Hannan’s final season.

2.) David Jones – 4 Years, $16 Million (2012)

The contract handed out to Jones at the time felt high, but he was a hard-nosed winger with a pair of 20+ goal seasons under his belt. He unfortunately proved immediately that he wasn’t worth the (then) significant investment the Avalanche made in him.

Jones put up just nine points in 33 games in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season. For the Avalanche, that was all they needed to see. They sent Jones and Shane O’Brien to the Calgary Flames for Cory Sarich and Alex Tanguay. Tanguay was a decent little nostalgia play, but simply getting out from underneath Jones’ contract was the goal.

1.) Ryan Smyth – 5 Years, $31.3 Million (2007)

Smyth had been a borderline upper-echelon power forward at times for the Edmonton Oilers, scoring 36 goals in back-to-back seasons prior to signing with the Avalanche in the summer of 2007. Combined with the Hannan contract, it was meant to help the Avalanche get back in contention.

Unfortunately, the Avalanche bought high. Smyth had 37 points in 55 games that first season and was decently solid with 26 goals and 59 points in 77 games in 2008-09. Seeing the noticeable decline, the Avalanche shipped Smyth off to the Los Angeles Kings for Tom Preissing, Kyle Quincey, and a fifth-round draft pick.

A History of Solid Moves

The Avalanche, especially in recent memory, have been very good about what contracts they hand out. Nathan MacKinnon is currently one of the best deals in the NHL. It is a big reason that they have managed to largely be contenders since moving to Denver in 1995.

The Avalanche have a lot less room for error when it comes to handing out iffy deals, instead spending much of their cap space on keeping guys in-house. Thankfully for the Avalanche, plenty of other teams have handed out far more egregious contracts than those listed above.