Top 10 - (super) Bad signings in NHL history

Every summer, NHL General Managers tend to sign players they think will help the team. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't!

Okay, let's be honest, more often than not, it doesn't work really well. Here's a top 10 of some free agent signings that didn't turn out to be really good decisions.

We apologize in advance for the painful memories it could bring up.

10 - Sean Avery, Dallas Stars (2008) The Dallas Stars signed Sean Avery to a rich contract that summer (four year/$15.5M), which was quite surprising, based on the fact that Avery's best season at that time was his 39 points in 75 games with the Los Angeles Kings in 2005-2006. Avery was more recognized as an agitating pest, and that kind of player usually does not earn those type of contracts. He only registered 10 points in 23 games before the Stars placed him on waivers. His production was okay, but his behavior on and off the ice forced the team to part ways with him, after he served a six-game suspension for inappropriate remarks. He was claimed by his former team, the New York Rangers. 

9 - Sheldon Sourray, Edmonton Oilers (2007) Sheldon Sourray signed a five-year, $27 million contract with the Oilers in the summer of 2007. Yes, he scored 26 goals and 31 assists in 81 games with the Montreal Canadiens, but he was not recognized as a reliable player on the defensive side of the game. His defensive differential of -26 that season speaks for itself. He was often injured in his first season with Edmonton, playing only 26 games, registering 10 points and a -7 ratio. His second season was promising, when he registered 20 goals and 53 points, with a +1 defensive differential. His third season was quite like his first one, when a concussion and a hand injury made him play only 37 games, registering 13 points, with am abyssal -19. The team did gave up on him, when they informed him not to attend the team training camp in 2010. He was eventually placed on waivers, and no one claimed him. 

8 - Cristobal Huet, Chicago Blackhawks (2008) The Chicago Blackhawks signed the French goaltender to a four-year, $22.5 million contract in 2008, believing that he could be the answer to a 47-year Stanley Cup drought. The season before, Huet recorded a career high in wins (32), with a 2.32 goals-against average and a .936 save percentage with Montreal and Washington. It's not exactly what happened. In his first season in Chicago, Huet shared the net with Nikolai Khabibulin, and he showed a 20-15-4 in 41 games. His numbers were okay, with a 2.53 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage. The year after that, Khabibulin was gone, and Huet got the starter job, playing 48 games, winning 26, but with a poor .895 save percentage. The Hawks won the Stanley Cup, but trusted Antti Niemi as their starter in the playoffs. They eventually buried Huet's contract by loaning him to a Swiss team the next season, and he never played in the NHL again.

7 - Sergei Samsonov, Montreal Canadiens (2006) Samsonov was good for many years in Boston, where he registered 376 points in 514 games. He also did well when the Oilers acquired him at the 2006 deadline, registering 16 points in 19 games, and added 15 points in 24 playoff games during the Oilers playoff run. Montreal were agressive to sign him in free agency that summer, and Edmonton couldn't match the two-year, $7.05 million offer they made. Well, it turned out to be a good thing for the Oilers, but not for the Habs. Samsonov only registered 26 games in 63 games in Montreal. He was placed on waivers that season, and Montreal later traded him to the Chicago Blackhawks. 

6 - Wade Redden, New York Rangers (2008) The New York Rangers could be the object of a top ten all by themselves with all the goofy signings they have made over the year. Wade Redden's contract is one of them. The Blueshirts offered him a six-year, $39 million contract after Redden spent 11 seasons with the Ottawa Senators, where he proved he could be a very reliable defenseman. He registered only 40 points in 156 games in his first two seasons with the Rangers, before they buried his contract in the AHL, where he played for two seasons before the Rangers were able to buy out the last two years of his contract in 2012.

5 - Zigmund Palffy, Pittsburgh Penguins 2005) This one his in the top ten, but not because it was a bad one, but because the player who signed the contract retired during the first season of it. The Penguins needed some veteran players to play with Sidney Crosby when he started his career in 2005. Pittsburgh owner/player Mario Lemieux signed Zigmund Palffy, a point per game player since he started playing in the NHL, to a three-year, $13.5 million contract. Palffy registered 42 points in 42 games, but decided to retire after game #42. 

4 - Ville Leino, Buffalo Sabres (2011) Generally, hockey players are not judged by their performance for only one season. Well, the Buffalo Sabres did that with Ville Leino in 2011, after he registered a 53 points season with the Philadelphia Flyers. They offered him a six-year, $27 million contract, and it turned out to be a mistake. The Finish forward only registered 47 points in 137 games played with the Sabres (including a zero goal season in 2013-2014), before the Sabres bought him out in the summer of 2014. He never played in the NHL after.

 3 - Illya Bryzgalov, Philadelphia Flyers (2011) The Philadelphia Flyers seem to have bad luck with their goaltender ever since Ron Hextall was traded to the Quebec Nordiques in 1992. Ilya Bryzgalov makes no exception. He was signed to a nine year, $51 million contract. To create the cap space necessary to this contract, the Flyers traded both Mike Richard and Jeff Carter that summer. He played poorly as a Flyers, and after a 9-8 loss to Winnipeg early in the 2011-2012 season, the Russian goaltender confessed he had zero confidence in himself at that moment. He played two seasons in Philadelphia before the Flyers bought him out in the summer of 2013. 

2 - Scott Gomez, New York Rangers (2007) Glenn Sather signed the two-time Stanley Cup champion to a seven year, $51.5 million contract in 2007. At that time, Gomez was only 27, and he had good seasons with the New Jersey Devils where he registered 450 points in 548 games. His first two seasons in New York were quite alright, as he registered 70 and 58 points. However, Sather decided to trade him to the Montreal Canadiens, in a trade that got him Ryan McDonagh. Gomez play went downside in his second season in Montreal, and the team bought him out in 2013. So that contract became a bad one after he left New York. But Glenn Sather is the one who offered him that deal. And he also managed to trade him for a pretty good player afterward. 

1 - Jeff Finger, Toronto Maple Leafs (2008) Who? Jeff Finger. Who...? Yeah, his name still creates the same reaction. And most hockey fans had the same when they learned about his signing in the summer of 2008. Not because Finger was a bad hockey player, but maybe because signing a player that had only played 99 games in the NHL (at the age of 27) to a four-year, $14 million contract is something you don't see often. His shutdown ability was the reason given by the Leafs managing brass for justifying the contract. Well, Toronto fans didn't see much of this ability, Finger registering 33 points in 105 games, with a defensive differential of -18. He was sent down the the AHL for the last two years of his contract, and he never played in the NHL again.