6. Dion Phaneuf

With a cap hit of $7 million a year for the next six years, both Leaf fans and fantasy GMs are weeping. After all, in the last three years, he’s played 198 games, but has only managed 88 points. Those are okay numbers, but not nearly good enough for his hit in cap leagues. This past season, for example, he had just three goals, 29 points, a minus-11 and two power play goals. That’s not far off from the previous season, when he had eight goals, 31 points, a plus-two and two power play goals. Not great numbers when you’re pulling in the dough that he is.

5. Bobby Ryan

Sens fans are defending this contract, but so far, there’s no reason for optimism. Bobby Ryan hasn’t been a great NHL player for about three years, and he’s now getting paid like one. Despite scoring just 41 goals and 102 points in his two seasons with the Sens, the 28-year-old is at the start of a bloated contract that will pay him $7.25 million for the next seven years. His plus-minus has never been great, he hasn’t had a season of more than six power goals in six years, and he doesn’t block shots. Although he does take a lot of shots and is average in hits, it’s not enough to make up for his long-term deal.

4. Travis Zajac

I don’t think even Tyler Bozak or David Desharnais has need to rely on superstar linemates as much as Zajac has had to. When he was playing with Zach Parise, he was a 25-goal, 60-point guy. Ever since Parise left the swamp, the Devils are left with a first-line centre that doesn’t score, gets less than 50 points a season (he was at 25 points this past season), and is making $5.75 million for the next six years. Unless a major free agent signs in New Jersey soon (and no, Jim O’Brien and Paul Thompson are not those major signings), then Zajac owners are pretty much stuck with an overpaid bench player.

3. Zach Bogosian

Way back in 2008, Bogosian was the third overall pick in the NHL draft, taken one spot behind Drew Doughty and one ahead of Alex Pietrangelo. Other notable defencemen taken in that first round includes Luke Schenn, Tyler Myers, Erik Karlsson, Jake Gardiner, Michael Del Zotto, John Carlson. In later rounds, we saw Vyacheslav Voynov, Roman Josi, Justin Schultz, T.J. Brodie, Jared Spurgeon, and Jason Demers selected. Bogosian, who will get paid $5.14 million a season for the next five years, makes more money than everyone except for Doughty, Pietrangelo, Myers and Karlsson. Why the high paycheck? He’s hit 30 points once in seven seasons, has one power play goal in five years, is frequently injured (he hasn’t played 70 games in a season since the Jets were in Atlanta), and he is routinely a minus player.

2. Dustin Brown

Is it his hard-nosed style that has slowed down his production, or has he played too much hockey? He has only missed 15 games combined in the last 10 seasons. In that time, he also played in three World Championships and two Olympics, and also played 64 playoff games in a three-year period before the Kings missed the postseason this year. Whatever the reason, the Kings captain has seen a serious decline in his play the last couple of seasons, but not in his pay. Brown can now only be counted on to produce hits, but there are much cheaper options in cap leagues than his $5.875 million a year for the next seven years. When a player making that kind of money can only score 11 goals and 27 points a season (to go along with a minus-17 and 26 penalty minutes), that doesn’t bode well for owners.

1. David Clarkson

A year ago, I called Clarkson’s contract the worst for cap leagues. It’s still awful, but at least we now know it’s tradable. Clarkson is due to get $5.25 million for the next five years. He will be injured for about 30 per cent of it, and underperform for 65 per cent. He’ll probably have a few good months at some point that will make someone trade for him or right before his next contract is due. But let’s look at what we know: In 118 games with the Leafs, and three with the Blue Jackets, Clarkson had 15 goals and 26 points. He was a minus-26, had just two power play goals and missed 43 games. For his career, he’s only ever been above 20 goals once, and has never hit 50 points. His best plus-minus season was a plus-three, way back in 2009-10. Sadly for Clarkson owners, it’s the worst long-term contract for cap leagues.