The WORST Free Agent Signing For All 32 NHL Teams!

From overpaying and overpromising to players who were once all-stars, today we're looking at the WORST free agent signings for all 32 NHL teams.
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[@severimakela3141]

I have to say that Pitkänen was very decent before his horrible injury in Canes. That injury was the reason why hybrid icing finally became a rule in the NHL.

[@Irevoltnow]

That Pitkänen pick for this list is absolutely laughable. Pitkänen scored 0,53 ppg in Flyers and Oilers. Guess what he scored in Canes? Yeah that's right 0,53 ppg. The fact they gave him extension should tell you enough. Second year of his extension he broke his foot so badly that he had to end his career. Couple years later tried to play in his hometown team but couldn't because the injury was just too bad. Even still he dominated in those games. Pity it ended the way it did.

[@ColtMagyar]

as a Jets fan I would have picked Guys like Trevor Lewis, Nate Thompson or Derek Forbort ahead of Olli Jokinen for our worst free agent signing

[@biguncle2494]

All those guys did their jobs, and none of them got a 2 year 9M contract either.

[@vaisanentommi7037]

​@@biguncle2494 O.j second season in Winnipeg had 43 points. Guess there were more worse signings in history.

[@gen-x-dad]

@@vaisanentommi7037 yeah the thumbnail says $9 million 7 goals, except it was $9 million over 2 seaons, and the second season he had 18...if it was so bad then how come the clickbait? I'm so sick of pathetic click bait.

[@xgetfightedxxx]

Scuderi. Trust me, him putting up 18 points in 2 seasons is about 15 points more than anticipated. While he wasnt signed to put up points, he did suck at that time though...but he didnt suck enough to not get traded for Trevor Daley. So, def not the worst signing for the Pens in their history.

[@jceggert7163]

This list could be just Ken holland signings.

[@lesevesel2898]

THIS.

[@philionaire760]

The Red Wings were in the running for Parise and Suter in 2012, too.

[@gkarenko9593]

He hasn't been with every team yet.

[@winningnhlbettor8138]

No Chuck Fletcher is wayyy worse...Holland probaby made some good moves....whereas Fletcher...literally everything he ever did was the wrong move..

[@steelerfan4life5]

The Alex Semin and Scott Darling signings were wayyy worse than Pitkanen’s for the Canes. At least JP had a huge and memorable play in that game 7 for them against the Devils in ‘09, the other two were absolute disasters for for just as much money

[@phantomarbiter6835]

I would’ve thought DiPietro for the islanders

[@kevinstull8552]

I was thinking Yashin

[@blakeattig5426]

This is free agency signings. I don’t think extensions are included.

[@phantomarbiter6835]

@@blakeattig5426Oh right, my bad

[@phantomarbiter6835]

@@blakeattig5426Oh right, my bad

[@phantomarbiter6835]

@@kevinstull8552Wasn’t he traded from Ottawa though?

[@AV57]

You analysis here is pretty lame. You’re just pointing out to point and goal totals with no context given, which is really weird for a list full of 2nd and 3rd liners.

[@symmertic4563]

Seabrook contract over the Seth Jones contract is CRAZY, the Jones deal is the absolute worst contract ever.

[@trentsteel6286]

What if Mr Jones turns things around and become a Norris winner later in the contract?

[@symmertic4563]

@@trentsteel6286 id bet my whole life savings that Jones won’t ever CRACK top 3 in votes, dude had always been ass even on Columbus. He didn’t even have a breakout year to earn 8 years 90 something million.

[@joegattog6695]

Dumbass take. Jones isn’t even bad his metrics have him as a top 20-25 Dman. He’s only overpaid by a million

[@rakchazak4672]

Sorry, the Scott Gomez trade was the worst trade for Montreal. 7 million a year with 2 goals? And we traded away one of the leagues best defencemen for him.

[@gkarenko9593]

This video wasn't about trades.

[@user-we2yt5on9b]

When discussing free agent signings, you should understand that re-signing your own player is not the same as signing a free agent. Perhaps a video on worst contracts would cover Hossa, Kovalchuk, DiPietro, Lecavalier, and others. Also you could do one on best/worst trades. That would be fun.

[@timitri8]

bro really hates hes Finns :DD

[@Argantonis]

The Finns always disappoint.

[@Petri_Pennala]

@@ArgantonisFinlands population is 5.5 million so I'd say that we are dang good in hockey compared to Canada or USA

[@xAnAngelOfDeathx]

Pierre Luc Dubois says "hold my beer". (yeah I know, not a free agent signing)

[@ahahahaha496]

His strategy of disappointing the teams he plays for and getting traded keeps him safe from these videos at least😂

[@TheTraskman]

Video idea: The Players who Took the Biggest Pay Cuts I think it’d be cool to see

[@Roller11111]

How bad was Clarkson? Toronto somehow managed to trade him and his full contract for a player that was never going to play again and won the trade.

[@buggernut3643]

I saw Eriksson coming for the Canucks before the video even started.

[@AttilatheThrilla]

I saw Clarkson for the Leafs before the video started 😂

[@markatsvensson]

Yup.

[@orebrotribune8302]

Brent Seabrook and Vincent Lecavalier are not free agent signings, only extensions.

[@jakeheerwagen8007]

Same with Jones if I'm not mistaken

[@isoantsa]

So you only look stats and not the reason behind the stats? Pitkänen had aa career ending injury that changed the rules. He was worth the money before that.

[@kraag]

you forgot Scott Gomez in Montreal

[@sbourassa9198]

Was not a free agent

[@siimtokke3461]

There should be a whole debate about when teams should pay players before they win cups or after. If you pay them before then you get a group of people saying why is [insert a team] paying so much to [insert player(s)], [insert the player(s)] he (they) have not won anything. But if you pay them after they have won a cup then you get another group of people saying why is [insert a team] paying so much to [insert player(s)], [insert the player(s)] is (are) past their prime and not putting up the numbers to deserve such pay. Patrick Kane brought 3 Cups to Chicago while getting paid 6.5 mil/year. When his 10.5 mil/year cap hit came in, a few years later some "journalists" questioned why is he getting paid so much since he had not won the Cup since 2015. Toews earned 850 k/year when he won his first Cup and 6 mil/year for the next 2 Cups. And the same story as with Kane followed. They "found" themselves on the "List of worse contracts in NHL", all because they had not won a Cup since 2015. So long story short, Seabrook's contract wasn't "the worst free agent signing for Chicago". Or if he truly is the worst FA signing then it shows Chicago does excellent FA signings.

[@ChillBlinton]

As a Canes fan this is hilarious. Pitkanen was consistent across teams and his career ended in tragedy. Scott Darling? Alexander Semin? Those two signings set the franchise back who knows how long. At least with Darling we had a quick turnaround when Rod came in and he was replaced by MacElhinney but Semin? Woof

[@marcarvalho86]

I mean, kudos for not saying Huberdeau as, even though, when it's all said and done, it could be, not only the worst contract in flames history but the worst contract in NHL history, there is still a lot of time form Huberdeau to turn it around. But I'm sorry, the Dennis Wideman contract was not even a bad contract. Maybe not a good one but he was a serviceable top 4 dman who helped a not good flames team to the second round and that is what a serviceable top 4 UFA dman cost at the time. James Neal was a bad contract. Troy Brouwer was a bad contract. Hell, since this is a Free Agent signing video, how about signing RFA, Ryan O'Reilly, to an offer sheet, only to find out, if it had been successful, they would have had to put him on waivers.

[@johnhastings6564]

The Alzner contract for Montreal certainly was a stinker but the Scott Gomez contract was equally foul.

[@D-Fens_1632]

Over a decade later I still chuckle and shake my head at an NHL team offering a player a 17 year contract. It's just so absurd.

[@dw7704]

The Flames choice, in my view, should be Deryk Engelland, Mason Raymond, James Neal, or Ollie Jokinen, not that Wideman was a great signing either.

[@csnide6702]

Weiss never panned out for RedWings but Wendel Clark was a far worse signing. Clark was once a GREAT player but only 12 games for wings with 6 points.....

[@SoundAndFuryy]

This list looked pretty suspicious from the start but at Pitkanen, I had to stop watching. The man got a pay raise after his initial 3-year contract ran out yet he is still the worst FA signing? How does that even make sense? Not even going to go into the whole "only 40 points once" thing. The man was #1D on a very low-scoring team in a very low-scoring era in the NHL. Also, if extensions somehow counted as "FA signings" like in Pitkanen's case, one would think Canes giving Semin 35 million deal for a total of 61 points for them would be low-hanging fruit. But now, you had to dig deep for a quality player on a very reasonable contract, with whom the team went to the conference finals, who suffered an unfortunate injury. Ridiculous.

[@IRanOutOfPhrases]

Seabrook is definitely not Chicago's. It wasnt a smart move but that was a player who did 'earn' it based on prior contributions to the team. If you want a better one: Cristobol Huet

[@IRanOutOfPhrases]

Oh and I got distracted 8n thing about signing UFAs rather than re-signing your own players. The contract with Bickell was far worse. The contract with Seth Jones was even more egrigious than Seabrook.

[@markatsvensson]

The Vancouver selection is spot on. Loui Eriksson should never have been signed and the moment the Canucks realized what they had they should have bought him out or tried to give him away while retaining as much contract as necessary.

[@andrewbair7810]

As a Flyers fan I immediately knew Bryz was going to end up being your pick. What an absolute train wreck of a signing.

[@Renegade322]

You missed the worst part about bryzgalov. We kicked Bobrovsky to the curb for him pretty much.

[@Muzzsjm]

I'm gonna say this but I feel Frans Nielsen was actually a worse signing than Stephen Weiss for the Red Wings. Had injuries not hampered Weiss that trade might have been alright injuries are often not a players fault. Nielsen however was signed for 5.25 per year for 5 years, he had never ever scored 60 points or above at least Weiss had done that 2-3 times. Nielsen played as a 1st/2nd line forward and was apparently coming in to unload some of the burden of Datysuk leaving. I mean come on!!!! You can have signed 2-3 players for that money who'd have earned you the 30 odd points Nielsen put up in two of his seasons. I don't even think he was a good penalty killer or gave much to the younger guys.

[@Romeo38rus]

What is so bad about e.g. Shipachyov signing? The guy signed, but then he left,contract broken, no burden on finance or capspace. As far as I understand Kovalchuk's contract is the same. And much worse stuff is Suter's, Yashin's or e.g. Callahan's in Tampa. The guy is not playing, gets his money and your capspace is a nightmare.

[@tincanstan]

Andrew Ladd for the NY Islanders? Because neither Rick DiPietro and Alexei Yashin's contracts NEVER existed. And then Carolina's worst deal was EASILY Alexander Semin.

[@AttilatheThrilla]

They weren’t free agents.. It’s literally the title of the video

[@puckrocker854]

I would argue the worst free agent signing for Minnesota was Martin Havlat. 5 yrs/30 mil and lasted two seasons before being shipped off to San Jose. Thomas Vanek's contract was pretty bad, too. Parise/Suter were still producing when they were bought out and would probably still be on the team if they weren't such locker room prima donnas.

[@rmattson]

Youre not wrong, but its simply impossible to ignore 13 year contracts. Just completely stupid. I think if they got the same money for 8 years, no one would ever talk about them again.

[@gregvogel9859]

I don’t know how you have Jaden Schwartz as the worst contract for Seattle. He’s been a solid contributor. Without question the worst contract is Grubauer. He’s been supplanted as the #1 starter in 2 of the 3 seasons and Seattle is still on the hook for 3 more at over 5 million. A lot to be paying a number 2 goalie and for quite some time.

[@garystover5387]

The worst Penguins signing was acquiring Jack Johnson (one of Jim Rutherford's genius moves). Glad they're both gone.

[@masonmerriner71]

I think it's hilarious he talked about Scud's lack of point scoring when he was a defensive defenseman. Jack Johnson was an actual liability on defense so I'd say that signing is much worse than Scudsy. I could also put Anti Niemi on the list of worst free agent signings.

[@sainlovesluppi487]

I say Shipachyov would have been a question mark more then anything he really didn't get a true chance to show what he could do you can't expect a guy who played in the KHL all his career who came in at his 30s to be able to just immediately adjust too the NHL game just like that he probably wouldn't have been a top six guy but i felt like he never got a real chance with the way it played out.

[@Nalleteus]

I think he could have been good 2nd liner

[@joegattog6695]

Lecavalier wasn’t a terrible choice. His career got ruined by Matt Cooke and the cap dropped and had a 6 year period of being completely stagnant which screwed a lot of teams

[@duanemann9182]

I am not sure you understand the situations for many of these signings and the seasons they failed.. nathan Horton for example got injured.. How was that a bad signing.... it was bad luck.. the Rangers drafter a player named Charpanov... who died.. was that a bad pick?? Pele Lindbergh was a bad signing he died... context plays a role

[@kevingillett9337]

Thought the penguins would be Zbynek Michalek

[@shhhhip52]

I mean Brent Seabrook is a borderline HOFer and that contract was a reward for over 10 years of elite play more than anything else. I get it though, you’re supposed to pay for the future, not the past.

[@goodcitizen7064]

I felt really bad for Parise and Suter. Both were great players who got stuck on a shit team. Parise is a decent player now and Suter is still the same player he's always been.

[@capellamidlight]

Recency bias much? There's nothing from the 90s or earlier on this list. There were countless terrible signings much worse than a lot of these. Like, Brad Richards is the worst signing for a 100-year old team? Vincent Lecavalier is the worst Lightning signing? What? Are you serious?

[@miikamessi]

Maybe he wasn't alive then

[@dw7704]

@@miikamessidoesn’t mean he can’t do research, or make the title say since whatever year, etc. I know hockey history from before I was born. But I do get that what eras you watched will impact your choice

[@miikamessi]

@@dw7704 clearly this creator is focused on the modern era of NHL, most comments always by complainers here 😅

[@dw7704]

@@miikamessi he can always make it clear by giving it a title to reflect the the time frame, or he can do more research He does either and it would help

[@Southboundpachyderm]

lol. Are you like 50? Relax, old man.

[@basilmcdonnell9807]

Vancouver: Mark Messier. Took a decade to recover.

[@Chiddeee]

This really isnt the worst contracts. Pitkänen should just not be there, he just got injured, antti niemi was still a better deal than Benn/Seguin, Bobrvsky and Dipietro deals are missing.. Huberdeau deal is brutal, SJS with Karlsson..

[@halmartin7417]

Sheldon Souray's season ending shoulder surgery.

[@celestialdesign9611]

Seabrook over Jones, you are out of your mind!? Contracts are also pay for past performance .

[@leehumphries4325]

The Sean Avery signing was infinitely worse than the Niemi signing for Dallas. Do better.

[@thetank5642]

Nah Grubauer is much worse of a contract for the Kraken

[@user-bm6cm4ii3m]

4:55 What's under Pronga's helmet right here? Ain't it a Russian winter hat?

[@cdca2019]

3:31, that's Milan Hejduk, not brad may We like Milan Hejduk, not brad may

[@MikeS29]

Jaden Schwartz is hardly the worst free-agent signing by the Kraken. Grubauer and Burakovsky are worse. As fragile as Schwartz is, Burakovsky gets hurt every third game. And Grubauer is about .884 s% since joining the team.

[@gologabob]

lol LA kings might of upped it with PLD

[@alecedgeworth2814]

Islanders have Ladd as their worse? How’s that one worse than the one to Garth snow? For the Canucks Loui’s contract was bad but not as bad as Roberto Luongo’s 12 year 115million dollar contract

[@Crosby4ever]

Jeff Skinner for the Sabres

[@Nastynate2121]

I’d say Kyle Turris was a worse signing for the preds tbh

[@JamesMcGinley-wu3qh]

Oh, ...and Jokinen was overpaid anywhere his entire career.

[@paulwalker7498]

The injury guys are unfortunate. Most of them would have probably been successful

[@devincoles1830]

As a Flames fan I would debate the Wideman choice.

[@D-Fens_1632]

Wasn't he the guy who randomly leveled a linesman while skating to the bench? That's worth a few million at least, we've all wanted to do that.

[@devincoles1830]

@@D-Fens_1632 lol i was actually at that game. Im not justifying the action. Im not even saying being on the list of this video is wrong. Im simply saying im not 100% sure his contract was the worst for the Flames.

[@KFCs2FilthyFlow]

Basically if you’re over 30 you should just retire. You should let Sid know.

[@21undertaker21able]

Hell yeah let's go!

[@ChrisCho-wm5ls]

The fall offs can come fast

[@Heytherebuds]

Suspect list

[@devinmistry519]

bro doesn't know puck

[@adambomb5381]

NYR Eric Lindros

[@jackoblllllllll]

How come this channel has a lot of interesting videos but struggles so much with putting correct images to players? 3:30 is Milan Hejduk not Brad May.

[@kurtismeldrum9845]

Ottawa = Korpisalo

[@benmitchell9713]

Uhm I think huberdeau is a way worse signing for the flames

[@kevinmurphy6430]

He wasn't a free agent..

[@benmitchell9713]

@kevinmurphy6430 good point. I'm still just a little sour about the ridiculous contract

[@arrudov564]

Brent Seabrook was not free agent signing.. hate to break it to you

[@arrudov564]

neither was Pitkanen for that matter

[@arrudov564]

Ilya Kovalchuk was not a free agent signing either.. NJ traded for him, this title is extremely misleading.

[@arrudov564]

Vincent Lecavalier was not a free agent signing, he played his whole career in Tampa Bay before they bought out his contract.

[@deeem2628]

You tell em

[@RiskyCapital]

Like cats only sleep and meow meow

[@YZER19]

Sorry but thatvlist is nonsense. he simply goes off of games played or points scored. weiss fro example was a corner piece 3rd line center who made the team better. what a clown he doesn't even skate i bet

[@JamesMcGinley-wu3qh]

Ahem, ah Alexei Yashin, anyone. Ca-freakin-MON! You could probably fill a worst list just from Mike Milbury moves alone; took poor Islanders over a decade to recover from him. And yes, Bryz was the worst first the Flyers, by a mile.

[@pontusbackman1863]

If anyone wonders why the list is so focused on signings made in the 2000s... Think again. Since the cap space, even a 4th liner gets paid more than Gretzky. Obviously it is way easier to base this list on the players salary vs what they bring to the rink. And as a Leafs fan, please don't remind me of Clarkson...

[@Sethstrat]

Dave Bolland sucks