Adam Proteau goes over the seasons of five NHL players who have underwhelmed on the ice this season, including two netminders with big contracts.
On Friday, THN.com picked out the five NHL players who have proved to be the season’s biggest surprises on a positive level on the ice. Today, we’re turning our attention to the five biggest surprises on a negative front based on the statistics. In no particular order:
1. Jack Campbell, G, Edmonton
Campbell is renowned in hockey circles for his good nature, but he’s struggled with his consistency all season long – and because he’s in the first year of a five-year, $25-million contract, his problems between the pipes have been more pronounced.
The 29-year-old has lost the Oilers’ starting goaltender job to Stuart Skinner, and with a slowly-growing salary cap, that $5 million per season is far too expensive for a backup netminder.
Edmonton management has not completely given up on Campbell, but his season statistics (including a 3.48 goals-against average and .886 save percentage) are dreadful.
Many Oilers fans are feeling buyer’s remorse regarding Campbell, but there’s no easy way out of his contract. A buyout at this point would still carry a not-insignificant cap hit – at least $1.541 million and as much as $2.641 million – through the 2030-31 campaign, according to CapFriendly. But unless Campbell has a bounce-back season in the very near future, he may leave Oilers GM Ken Holland no choice but to buy him out.
2. Tony DeAngelo, D, Philadelphia
Yes, DeAngelo leads the Flyers' D-men in points (42), and he’s second in average time on ice for Flyers defensemen (22:05). But he’s in the first year of a two-year, $10-million contract with Philadelphia, and he’s a team-worst minus-26. Plus-minus is not an exact science, but considering the next-worst Flyers blueliner is a minus-10, DeAngelo’s plus-minus is an indictment of his performance in his own zone.
At age 27, DeAngelo can no longer dine out on the promise of his potential. Now, he’s supposed to deliver at both ends of the rink, and that just hasn’t happened. It’s difficult envisioning any team taking the final season of DeAngelo’s contract off the Flyers’ hands next year. For $5 million per season, Philadelphia should be getting much more out of DeAngelo than he’s delivered.
3. Sergei Bobrovsky, G, Florida
As the highest-paid active NHL goalie this season – with a cap hit of $10 million for this season and the next three – Bobrovsky has simply been not nearly good enough. After a rebound year of sorts in the 2021-22 campaign – when he posted a 2.67 GAA and a .913 SP in 54 games played – Bobrovsky has regressed notably this season. His 3.07 GAA and .901 SP are below average, and that’s not what a team wants when they’re paying a player that much money.
Bobrovsky’s current understudy, 30-year-old journeyman Alex Lyon, hasn’t fared much better in net for Florida, and part of the blame for Bobrovsky’s numbers is the poor play of the team in front of him. However, for the money they’ve allocated to him, Bobrovsky has numbers that don’t cut it. At age 34, he’s got to be better for Florida to have any hope of (a) making the playoffs as a wild-card team and (b) winning a post-season round or two.
4. Ryan Johansen, C, Nashville
Before he was sidelined for the rest of the regular season by a severe leg injury in late February, Johansen was underachieving in a big way this year. After putting up 26 goals last season – tying his second-best season in that department – the 30-year-old had amassed only 12 goals and 28 points in 55 games this season and averaged just 15:45 of ice time.
Given his $8-million annual cap hit, Johansen has greatly underwhelmed. He still has two more seasons left on his current contract, but the good news for Predators fans is that he doesn’t have a no-trade or no-move clause.
The trick for incoming Nashville GM Barry Trotz will be finding a taker for his contract. The Preds may have to retain some of Johansen’s salary to make a trade work for another team, but bringing him back to finish his contract doesn’t seem especially appetizing for the Predators, either.
5. John Klingberg, D, Minnesota
The 30-year-old Klingberg had a decent-enough season last year with Dallas, with 41 assists and 47 points in 74 games. He bet on himself last summer, signing a one-year, $7-million deal with Anaheim for the current season, but he’s struggled mightily on the offense front, posting 16 assists and 24 points in 50 games before the Ducks dealt him to Minnesota at this year’s NHL trade deadline.
Some of Klingberg’s woes can be attributed to playing on an abysmal Anaheim squad, but he hasn’t done significantly better on the playoff-bound Wild, with only one goal and six points in 11 games. When he becomes a UFA this summer, the Swedish blueliner will take a major pay cut. And he really has nobody but himself to blame it on.