Five worst Tampa Bay Lightning contracts of the Salary Cap Era

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During this current run for the Tampa Bay Lightning, most of the stars for Tampa are either homegrown talents or players that the Bolts acquired via a trade. Since the inception of the salary cap in 2005, Tampa hasn’t swung for the fences too often during free agency to build their team.

But here and there, Tampa has lured some big-name players to town or kept players already here in town with big contracts that didn’t pan out.

Here at Bolts by the Bay, we will look at the five worst contracts the Lightning have had since 2005. For this list, we are factoring in not just the quality of the player but also how much Tampa paid that player to be here and how long the player was signed for

We will also include a couple of players already on the team, and Tampa signed to long extensions rather than allowing to walk.

Tampa Bay Lightning Worst Contracts: Honorable Mention

Before we get to the top five, there are a couple of players worth mentioning.

Andrej Meszaros signed a six-year, $24 million deal with Tampa in 2008. Coming off 36 point season in Ottawa that garnered Norris votes, Meszaros never lived up to those offensive numbers while in Tampa.

He still was a useful shot blocker, but Tampa traded him away after two years to Philadelphia for a second-round pick, limiting the damage his contract did.

Jake Dotchin also gets an honorable mention. It’s not even that Tampa signed him to any significant money, just a 2 year $1.625 million contract extension in 2017.

But Tampa had to go out of its way to protect him from Vegas in the expansion draft, trading Nikita Gusev, a 2017 second-round pick, and a 2018 fourth-rounder to protect Dotchin and have Vegas select Jason Garrison.

But Dotchin showed up to the 2018 training camp 30 pounds overweight and was immediately released.

Jan 19, 2017; San Jose, CA, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning center Valtteri Filppula (51) looks to pass against the San Jose Sharks in the third period at SAP Center at San Jose. The Sharks won 2-1. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports /

Tampa Bay Lightning Worst Contracts: Valtteri Filppula

Five years for $25 million in 2013

Considering he was a third-round draft pick in 2002, Valtteri Filppula is probably satisfied with how his NHL career panned out. He played in 1,056 games over 16 seasons and finished his career in 2021 with 530 career points.

After winning a Stanley Cup with Detroit in 2008 and putting up 66 points in 2012, Tampa took a shot at Filppula in 2013 with a five-year, $25,000,000 deal.

And to be honest, his first season with the Tampa Bay Lightning wasn’t that bad. He scored 25 goals and put up 58 points. It still wasn’t quite worth the $5,000,000 cap hit Tampa had to take, considering the salary cap was only $64.3 million that year, but it wasn’t a disaster.

But then, during the Stanley Cup finals run of 2014-15, Filppula turned 30, and the wheels slowly started to come off.

He only scored 12 goals that season, though he did have 14 points during the playoff run.

By year three of the deal, his contract was an outright problem. He only put up 31 points during the 2015-16 season, and during year four, Tampa was able to get out of his contract when he was traded to Philadelphia at the trade deadline with an entire year still left on the contract.

TAMPA, FL – MAY 6: Tyler Johnson #9 of the Tampa Bay Lightning celebrates his goal against the Montreal Canadiens in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Semifinals during the 2015 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Amalie Arena on May 6, 2015 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Carlson/Getty Images) /

Tampa Bay Lightning Worst Contracts Tyler Johnson

Seven years for $35 million in 2017

It feels wrong putting Johnson on this list, considering what he meant during the revitalization of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Johnson’s 2015 playoff run scored 13 goals and 10 assists and there is a good chance Tampa wins the Cup that year if he hadn’t had his wrist broken during the Finals.

Despite his 2015-16 campaign that saw his regular season point total drop to 38 points, he still put up 17 points during the playoffs.

He was rewarded with a seven-year contract at $5,000,000 per year.

The problem is he never put up more than 50 points in a season after signing the deal and, for the most part, was relegated to being a bottom-six forward.

Even 2018-19, when he scored 29 goals, was more a by-product of playing alongside Kucherov and Point.

By 2021, Tampa tried to release Johnson and placed him on waivers. There were no takers at the time, and Johnson was able to stick around thanks to Kucherov’s injury and win a second Stanley Cup.

He was finally shipped off to Chicago with three years left on his deal.

Johnson wasn’t a bad player for Tampa after he signed his extension, he just wasn’t worth the money they committed,

May 20, 2016; Tampa, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Matt Carle (25) works out prior to game four of the Eastern Conference Final of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /

Tampa Bay Lightning Worst Contracts: Matt Carle

Six years for $33 million in 2012

It’s probably not a great sign when your big free agent signing for a defenseman picks up a vote for the Lady Byng Award.

But that was Matt Carle in 2013, who picked up six votes, including a first-place vote, for the “Player who exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.”

It’s hard to quantify defensemen with pure stats, and he had a respectable 31 points during the 2013-14 season.

But if you watched him try and play actual defense, you know that wasn’t his strong suit.

Which is a problem when you are a defenseman.

From the 2013-14 season through the 2015-16 year, Carle was 73rd among defensemen in 5 v 5 points with 42 points during even strength play.

However, during this same time frame over three seasons, Matt Carle only delivered 86 hits total during 5 v 5 play.

To give you an idea of how unphysical that is, 211 defensemen had more hits than Carle during that three-year span, including Shane O’Brien, who accumulated more hits than Carle despite playing in 200 fewer games.

After 2016, Tampa said screw it and bought out the remaining two years of his contract.

He soon retired after playing six games with Nashville.

Apr 4, 2019; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Tampa Bay Lightning forward Ryan Callahan (24) during warm up against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports /

Tampa Bay Lightning Worst Contracts: Ryan Callahan

Six years for $34,800,000 in 2014

It feels unfair to put Callahan on this list because the man did everything he could and put his body on the line every night while in Tampa.

The problem is his body gave out, and his contract didn’t match the product on the ice.

If Callahan had just been a fourth-line guy with a league-minimum contract, we would all remember him far more fondly in Tampa.

Originally acquired in a trade deadline deal with New York because Martin St. Louis threw a hissy fit, Callahan was billed as a high-skill player that could also lay the boom.

Tampa then signed him to a big extension, and during his first full season with Tampa, he was as advertised. He produced 54 points while delivering 181 hits.

But by 2015-16, he was down to 28 points.

Then by 2016-17, the injuries kicked in.

Callahan didn’t even top 20 points in a single season during his last three years, and by 2019 he had to call it quits. He was traded to Ottawa in the 2019 offseason, placed on LTIR, and never played again.

We all love Ryan Callahan the human and player, but at $5,800,000 a year it was a costly miss for the Lightning.

BOSTON, MA – MAY 17: Mark Recchi #28 of the Boston Bruins checks Mattias Ohlund #5 of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the third period of Game Two of the Eastern Conference Finals during the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden on May 17, 2011 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Tampa Bay Lightning Worst Contracts: Mattias Öhlund

Seven years for $24.5 million in 2009

You knew this had to be number one.

Mattias Öhlund was a solid defenseman for eleven seasons with Vancouver before he signed a seven-year deal with the Lightning in 2009 at 33 years old.

Ohlund played two years for Tampa and had ho-hum campaigns, though he did play a role during the 2011 playoff run. But even by the end of 2011, with five years left on his deal, it was evident his speed was a massive liability on the ice.

He underwent knee surgery that offseason and was never seen again on the ice.

The problem is that his contract had salary cap implications for the Tampa Bay Lightning it couldn’t escape until after 2016.

Forget retrospect; even in foresight, signing a 33 year-old defenseman to a seven-year contract seemed like a terrible idea.

There is a reason Brian Lawton only made it 18 months as the Lightning GM.

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