After tough first year in Calgary, Jonathan Huberdeau's contract viewed as one of league's worst

It was two stories for Matthew Tkachuk and Jonathan Huberdeau after last summer's blockbuster trade between the Panthers and Flames

Earlier this week we talked about Matthew Tkachuk and his contract to play hockey for the Florida Panthers.

The 8-year deal that pays an average annual value (AAV) of $9.5 million will keep Tkachuk under contract with the Panthers through the year 2030.

It's widely viewed as a major bargain for Florida, as Tkachuk, at just 25 years old, is one of league's biggest and brightest young superstars.

He arrived in South Florida last summer in a shocking, blockbuster trade with the Calgary Flames that saw Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, prospect Cole Schwindt and a first-round pick go back to Calgary.

It was quite the haul, with the ascending Huberdeau coming off a monster season and Weegar regarded as one of the top offensive-defensemen in the game.

In the weeks and months that followed, Calgary would offer both Huberdeau and Weegar 8-year contract extensions, with Huberdeau signing for $84 million ($10.5M AAV) and Weegar for $50 million ($6.25M AAV).

Those deals didn't kick in until this season and run through the year 2031.

Year one of Tkachuk's deal couldn't have gone better for the player or the team.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for Huberdeau.

The 30-year-old's maiden voyage with the Flames was a far cry from the Hart Trophy-worthy season he'd had in Florida the year before.

Huberdeau's point total dropped from 115 during his final year with the Panthers to just 55 last season in Calgary.

That's a tough pill to swallow when taking the $84 million still owed to Huberdeau.

This was highlighted by Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic in a post on the NHL's 10 worst contracts.

"From Calgary’s perspective, it would’ve been awfully wise to actually see Huberdeau prove those things wrong before giving him $84 million," Luszczyszyn wrote. "Extending a 29-year-old who is a year out from free agency before he played a single game for the team after a career year should’ve been an extraordinarily easy thing to not do. But the Flames — fresh off a jilted split with two franchise players — did it anyway, and they’re left with a contract that looks dead on arrival. In Year 1, Huberdeau projects to be only an $8 million player … and it gets so much worse from there."

He goes on to say that even if Huberdeau has a bounce-back season in 2023-24, his age is going to catch up with him, and likely sooner rather than later.

Luszczyszyn does point out that out of all the players on his list, which includes Seth Jones, Colton Parayko, Tyler Seguin and Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Huberdeau is the most skilled and as such, the highest probability to prove it wrong.