Saturday 1 December 2007

The NHL's Overpaid Schmucks

by Jes

Over at his blog, James Mirtle highlighted a group of the NHL's Unsung Heroes. Let's face it, guys like Greg Zanon deserve a little more appreciation. Jan Hejda? Remember, Hockey Rants highlighted this guy's mad skillz before, and you mortals still don't worship him nearly enough.

Well, as much as we love a warm and fuzzy story, I'm a much more bitter guy. I'd rather highlight the players that are making boatloads of cash and sucking eggs at the same time. Feel-bad features are more my thing, right?

So, here's a list of players that deserve to be booed, egged, and heckled.

Todd Bertuzzi, Anaheim - 13GP 1-5-6PTS -3
Do I really need to say more about this lazy ogre? He rarely breaks a sweat, routinely lets his checks go (Markus Naslund is thanking him right about now), and gets paid $4mil/season to do so.

Dustin Penner, Edmonton - 26GP 4-8-12PTS
I realize that Kevin Lowe put Penner into a position to 'fail', giving up the farm for a second-line winger who hadn't proven himself.

The problem I see is that Penner has a bit too much Bertuzzi in him, in that Penner jut cruises far too often and isn't nearly as assertive as he should be. Was less than half-a-point a game really worth all that?

Patrik Elias - 23GP 4-8-12PTS -6
I don't get it. Elias has been bad at both ends of the ice, which is very unusual for him. Combine these awful stats with a $6mil salary and you get a bad payoff on your return.

It's not like there are any positive signs, either. Elias was actually worse in November (5 points) than he was in October (7 points).

Michael Ryder - 25GP 3-7-10PTS -2
Remember when this guy used to be good? Well, last year has had a god-awful -25, but at least he put up some offense with 58 points. This season, he's doing rather BLAH at both ends of the ice, and makes enough money to buy my condo 10 times over. He's gone from core player to support player in a short time.

Miikka Kiprusoff - 25GP 10-11-3 2.96GAA 88.5SV%
It's kinda funny how Calgary gave this guy a big fat contract extension despite the fact that he's having, by far, his worst season ever. Kipper has been the weak point of the Flames this season, and doesn't get along well with coach Keenan. (then again, many players don't)

Let's face facts, people. Kiprusoff has been one of the NHL's worst #1 goalies this season, and he's getting paid some big bucks. The Flames aren't getting their money's worth.

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