NHL free agency opened on Tuesday, and, so far, 182 contracts have been signed worth almost $800,000,000 total, per PuckPedia.
Some teams filled their areas of need with high-end players on great deals; others overpaid after losing out on top names.
Which contracts will age well, and which had fans shaking their heads at the numbers? Let’s take a look at the best and worst value contracts signed.
Best value: Mitch Marner, forward, Vegas Golden Knights
Marner signed an eight-year, sign-and-trade deal worth $12 million per season, inking the contract with his former team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, before being flipped to the Golden Knights in exchange for center Nicolas Roy.
By adding the eighth year, Vegas was able to get the annual average value down to $12 million; a seven-year contract, according to Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon, would have had an AAV of $13.7 million.
With Marner, the Golden Knights will gain a player who ranks seventh in points in the NHL since 2020-21 and has two top ten finishes in the Selke voting the past three seasons. While Marner does become a top-five paid player for this upcoming season, with the salary cap projected to rise, his value at $12 million per year will age very well.
Worst value: Cody Ceci, defenseman, Los Angeles Kings
Ceci signed a four-year, $18 million contract worth $4.5 million annually. Unfortunately for Los Angeles, both the contract length and AAV are problematic.
The Kings lost top-four blue liner Vladislav Gavrikov to free agency and depth defender Jordan Spence to a trade, and Ceci is both a below-average defender and provides little offense to replace either of the two.
