The NHL's Five Most Untradeable Contracts

Many NHL deals work out nicely for both sides with a fair trade of funds and on-ice performance. However, even seemingly lucrative NHL deals can turn into nightmares when a player underperforms, and five specific players in today's NHL possess some of the most untradeable contracts on the market.

In the NHL’s salary cap era, it can be difficult, if not completely impossible, for teams to untether themselves from bad contracts. While it’s true teams will usually find a way to trade contracts they want to get out from under, some contracts are simply too immense – and usually, with too many years of contract term – to get rid of. Here are the five most untradeable contracts in the league today:

Like every player on this list, Huberdeau isn’t a bad player. But it’s the combination of his $10.5 million annual salary and the seven years he has remaining on the contract that makes Huberdeau unmoveable. He can’t be bought out – unless Calgary wants to be paying him for the next 14 years – and unless the Flames are willing to retain a large portion of his salary, there won’t be teams fighting to acquire his services. 

The 31-year-old Huberdeau won’t ever get another contract this big and bulky again, and while it may have made sense to sign him to an extension at the time, we’d reckon Calgary would like a mulligan on this one. They’re stuck with one another for the time being, and it’s likely to stay that way for at least a couple years to come.

Early in his career, the 37-year-old Vlasic was an elite defender and a crucial component of San Jose’s blueprint for success. But the fall-off in quality of play for him has been notable and extended. And now, with two years left on his contract that carries a cap hit of $7 million per year, Vlasic is in a no-man’s land of sorts, with no teams willing to trade for him and no large role for him any longer on the Sharks. 

Vlasic does have a modified no-trade clause, but that only allows him to pick three teams he’d accept a deal to. Needless to say, Vlasic – who had only six goals and 12 points in 57 games this past season – is unlikely to end his NHL days playing for a different team. A contract buyout might happen for Vlasic next summer, and after that, retirement probably looms for him. He’s likely to be a one-team player in his NHL career, but he’s stumbling toward that label, and the end for him is likely coming soon, one way or another.

Nurse had a difficult season last year, including a playoff performance in which some fans and observers were advocating for him to be a healthy scratch. The 29-year-old has six more seasons left on his deal at an annual salary of $9.25 million, and he also has a full no-movement clause for the last three years of his deal. But even if he didn’t have any trade protection, it’s unlikely Nurse would have any teams stepping up to acquire him. 

Nurse posted 10 goals and 32 points in 81 games in 2023-24 – decent enough numbers for most NHL blueliners. But when you’re earning nearly $10 million per season, you need to be a defensive-minded difference-maker if you can’t be one on offense, and unfortunately for Nurse, he’s neither of those things. A new season could bring improvement for him, but until further notice, he will be unmovable by new Oilers GM Stan Bowman.

Like Nurse, Jones is also at the top end of the pay scale for defensemen, earning $9.5 million per season until the 2029-30 campaign. He had the reputation of being a needle-mover on defense early in his career with Nashville and Columbus, but since joining the Blackhawks in 2021, the 29-year-old’s offensive numbers have fallen each year, from 51 points in 78 games in 2021-22 to 31 points in 67 games in 2023-24. 

Jones can still eat up more than 20 minutes per game, but his days as an all-around elite D-man are over, and the Blackhawks aren’t going to find any takers for the remainder of his contract. Jones could get a positive boost from the arrival of new veterans joining Chicago this summer, but it’s difficult to envision him resuscitating his reputation either in the Windy City or elsewhere.

It’s not often a player can go from a key long-term signing to a financial albatross only two years after signing a new contract, but such is the case with the Flyers and the 31-year-old Couturier, who missed the entire 2022-23 season with injuries before putting up only 11 goals and 38 points in 74 games last season. 

Given that Couturier is making $7.75 million per season for the next six seasons, he’s in no-man’s land contractually speaking, and he’s not going to find a new home anytime soon. Couturier also has a full no-movement clause for the next five seasons, but given the way things have gone for him in Philly, Couturier should welcome a change of scenery. The problem is, no teams will be stepping up to bring him in. He’s not a buyout candidate realistically, and he’s not likely to rebound on offense. He is a veteran who’s seriously overpaid, and there’s nothing that’s going to change that label in the foreseeable future.