Jonathan Huberdeau’s contract doesn’t hurt Calgary Flames – Hockey Writer – Calgary Flames

At the end of July, sports Released their list of top 10 worst NHL contracts (excerpted from ‘Dom Luszczyszyn: 10 worst NHL contracts, 2025 edition: Jonathan Huberdeau, Ivan Provorov, etc. sports7/31/25). The first billing on the roster is the contract of Calgary Flames forward Jonathan Huberdeau, who signs an eight-year contract worth $10.5 million each year, starting in the 2023-24 season with six years of deal left. This is not an ideal situation for the Calgary Flames, who plans to compete for the Stanley Cup soon, but how bad is it actually?

Mathematics of flat cover

In most years, the NHL salary cap is expected to rise from the previous year’s relatively stable percentage to ensure players are paid consistently over time. A specific dollar amount is actually very little for most teams (because your average – even a below-average NHL team can afford the spending cap), while the value of a player is expressed by a portion of the salary cap. To maximize their income for players (who do care about the money) they signed what seemed expensive, but over time, their value as a percentage of their salary decreased.

Related: Flames’Huberdeau’s underperforming in the new worst contract ranking

Or, at least that’s the idea. When Covid-19 was in the 2020 pandemic, the NHL had almost frozen the salary cap, it didn’t rise at all, nor was it a small increment. This puts pressure on the team to hit blocks more cautiously – almost all competing teams, and many non-competitive teams – spent on salary. A bad contract from the Pinggai era could take a team from competitors to disguisers.

Take Toronto maple leaves as an example. They signed the “Core Four” contracts – Auston Matthews, William Nelander, John Tavarez and Mickey Manner – before the salary cap flattened, four big contracts were signed, assuming it would continue to rise. This wasn’t the case, and in the following seasons they had to limit themselves to extremely weak depths, slow defenders and cheap goalkeepers, resulting in almost zero playoff success. If the salary cap increases over this time, then these contracts will become less important.

Sticker impact

Now, the NHL has returned to the way it was before the salary cap flattened. After years of stagnation, blocks have jumped from $88 million this offseason to $95.5 million since the 2019-20 season, an increase of $6.5 million in total. It’s a bigger first-year jump than the last six seasons in total – the fact that $6.5 million of $4.5 million was allocated in the offseason in 2024. This gives almost every team a lot of blocking room, and even many teams hold on to the blocks, which makes the blocks start to rise again.

This could bring a kind of reverse sticker blow to the league and its fans: in the shared years, those who follow, the salary cap is considered a certain stable number, so all contracts and analysis are in assumptions that the assumptions are certain dollar levels and will remain that way. The view has shifted to look at the salary structure of the league in some way.

But the alliance is now over the structure and our view needs to be reversed to the way before the cap flattened: the value of the dollar and the cap percentage must be divorced again. This means the contract will look like it will be rich, even if it is reasonable for two years.

Flame hat problem (or lack)

Huberdeau’s contract will be unreasonable within two years. Unless he makes a big move, that may not be justified unless he returns to the form that almost won the Hart trophy. It’s the reason for the “worst contract” list.

That being said, unlike the maple leaf, the flame is not trapped in the position of cash. They have $15,412,500 in hat space, only restricted free agent Connor Zary signed, and they are unlikely to be buyers for the 2026 trade deadline. Even with tight salary, a team in their own position may be on the contract, and now the block is rising and the flames are not, the load will become easier.

Huberdeau is neither a bad player or a negative asset. If the Flames were even willing to be lightly savvy with the Dead Cap, they could even take half of his $10.5 million block to bring Huberdeau to desperate contenders as a six-choice option. Red Wings forward Patrick Kane signed a contract with the same hat that his first team, the Blackhawks, traded him to The New York Rangers two years ago. Assuming that the flame is more likely to retain him, the contract may move over several years to strengthen the team that needs to reach the salary.

During this time, Hoberdo was a fully manageable player and a valuable part of the flame. In many other cases, his contract will be a tough weight – but for a team that requires scoring and leadership skills than anything else, contracts aren’t an issue for their best offensive drivers and veterans.