Hated on players who would be seen in a different light if they were paid slightly less

[Deplorable Lenny]

Guy would literally make half as much if he was signed now.

He only got that money because it was during covid, and it was incredibly hard to get a Defenseman to play in Canada.

Or because he was bridged twice and had all the leverage. As well as he is super close with McDavid and Drai. Also, he was the best Oilers D man since Pronger.

Sure he is overpaid. and I agree, I don't see the Oilers getting another dman who is as just as good to come and play here instead.

But I think there are more than just one factor at play here. Like most situations that people try to simplify into one argument, there was a ton of moving parts when he signed his contract and he had most of the leverage and signed an almost identical deal to an almost identical player (see Seth Jones)

 

[KevinRedkey]

People are already complaining about DeBrincat's future contract, so I guess he will be on this list shortly.

Otherwise I'd say Tavares is a good example of what the OP is talking about.

 

[The Nuge]

Nurse is not a #1 d-man.
At best he's at the Brent Seabrook level. A good #2.

He just is. He’s a high event player, but that doesn’t make him bad. People harp on one mistake, and ignore everything else positive he did. Going back to 18/19, he sits 9th among dmen in even strength scoring. He also has the 2nd best +/- of the top 10, behind only Hedman, and while it’s not the best stat, that’s still pretty telling that he’s not a liability. He also leads the NHL in even strength minutes over that time, and is top 20 in short handed minutes. The fact is, he plays as much as anyone in the league and is a massively positive contributor during those minutes.

Guy would literally make half as much if he was signed now.

He only got that money because it was during covid, and it was incredibly hard to get a Defenseman to play in Canada.

He literally wouldn’t and it’s comical to claim that. He had the 7th most points among dmen at even strength/short handed this year. Not to mention that he’s 6’4, skates like the wind, and is hard to play against. Yet you think he’s going to get paid less than Ben freaking Chiarot? Severson isn’t remotely on Nurse’s level and just got 6.25, so how do you figure Nurse is going to get 4.6? He’s probably a million overpaid, and suggesting he’s 4.6 overpaid makes it hard to take you serious

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Jeff Skinner. He just had a great season, im hopeful/optimistic that he’s actually worth most of that money through most of that contract, but if he were in the 6-7 range people wouldn’t be so quick to clown on him for a Kruegered year. Bad confluence of events there got him paid like crazy- he’s a good Buffalo dude, just also an overly rich one.

Kyle Okposo before this. 4-5 mil, fine, he ran into injury issues. At 6 mil that was too much for a dude on the decline.

 

[Stive Morgan]

Brendan Gallagher.

He was a huge portion of the Habs fanbase's favourite player. Then he signed a massive deal and his play fell off a cliff.

And to a lesser extent, Paul Byron. One of the hardest-working and loyal Habs, but after he signed the $3.4m/4 years contract, he became the whipping boy for a lot of people.

 

[Hockeyholic]

Agree with this....recall the time his uncle told me that he's the best defenseman they have, but he's overpaid...simple as that....not often you hear someone so close to the player suggest they are overpaid, but it was a matter fact.

Isn't his uncle Donovan McNabb?

 

[JoVel]

Not current player but Ryan Callahan would've been a fan favorite in Tampa if he made the 2 mil he was worth and not 5.5 or whatever it was.

 

[Toby91ca]

Isn't his uncle Donovan McNabb?

Yes, by marriage, but not the uncle I’m talking about…talking about his dad’s brother

 

[AndreRoy]

Not current player but Ryan Callahan would've been a fan favorite in Tampa if he made the 2 mil he was worth and not 5.5 or whatever it was.

He was already a fan favorite for a lot of people. Just didn’t have the offense to be worth his contract, but his nonstop effort, leadership, and willingness to sacrifice his body for his team didn’t go unappreciated by everybody simply because he was overpaid.

 

[Bank Shot]

Nurse is not a #1 d-man.
At best he's at the Brent Seabrook level. A good #2.

Just because Seabrook played with a double Norris winner doesn't make him a number 2 D-man.

Good grief. lol

Severson and Gakrikov just got paid $6 million each and people still going to complain about the Nurse contract.

Just shows how dumb the average hockey fan is.

 

[johan f]

The GMs decides how much they want to pay. Not players. To punish players for their contracts is stupid.

 

[CraigBillington]

OEL. I feel last year was an off year because of injury and if he went back to playing how he did the previous year, I think he might have some value at $5-5.5m

 

[WetcoastOrca]

For me it’s players who work hard every game and are good players but have obvious limitations. Nurse is the first one who comes to mind.
Tavares is another one.

 

[LemonSauceD]

Horvat soon

 

[Leonardo87]

For my nominations, i'd say:

-Cam Fowler. He's fully worth his $6.5M. But it feels like he's often been looked at as decent but overpaid through much of that contract thus far. I feel like if he'd been at $5.5M instead, he'd have entered the conversation viewed as one of the "value contracts" around the league, that fans are always drafting proposals trying to acquire.

Fowler is an interesting case. He is a legit 2/3D on most teams, had a career season in production last year, and on a horrible Ducks team. Their woes were not on Fowler. But a lot of fans were hoping he could be a 50+ point, two way defender, and more of a high end #2, Low-end #1. I don’t think Ducks fans are too upset with his contract or think he is overpaid. I believe the issue goes back to when he was drafted and his potential, and felt like he never met that full potential.

He is like the Chris Kreider of the Ducks, made career production numbers recently , but fans always wanting more, but overpaid really has not come up in the conversation.

 

[AvroArrow]

Tavares at 8-9M
Nurse at 6M

 

[Stealth1616]

Nurse is not a #1 d-man.
At best he's at the Brent Seabrook level. A good #2.

Name 30 better d-man and provide detailed statistics in your response.

Bet you would find Nurse is a tool 30 dman in the league

 

[hawksrule]

Seth Jones. Overpaid by a million or so but an excellent hockey player.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Seth Jones. Overpaid by a million or so but an excellent hockey player.

I don’t think anyone hates a player for being overpaid by a million.

 

[Lady Stanley]

He just is. He’s a high event player, but that doesn’t make him bad. People harp on one mistake, and ignore everything else positive he did. Going back to 18/19, he sits 9th among dmen in even strength scoring. He also has the 2nd best +/- of the top 10, behind only Hedman, and while it’s not the best stat, that’s still pretty telling that he’s not a liability. He also leads the NHL in even strength minutes over that time, and is top 20 in short handed minutes. The fact is, he plays as much as anyone in the league and is a massively positive contributor during those minutes.

Problem is more how the contract cripples the team. That's a lot of money used on one player.

Without a doubt I'm not suggesting the oilers had a better option.

He literally wouldn’t and it’s comical to claim that. He had the 7th most points among dmen at even strength/short handed this year. Not to mention that he’s 6’4, skates like the wind, and is hard to play against. Yet you think he’s going to get paid less than Ben freaking Chiarot? Severson isn’t remotely on Nurse’s level and just got 6.25, so how do you figure Nurse is going to get 4.6? He’s probably a million overpaid, and suggesting he’s 4.6 overpaid makes it hard to take you serious

I'll plead no contest on this one, but how do you think he compares to Ekholm?

 

[CraigBillington]

I don’t think anyone hates a player for being overpaid by a million.

Tanner Glass as a Canuck.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Tanner Glass as a Canuck.

Glass wasn’t hated because of his salary. It was because of his deployment by AV.
A million dollars on a huge contract like Jones is peanuts.

 

[JianYang]

And to a lesser extent, Paul Byron. One of the hardest-working and loyal Habs, but after he signed the $3.4m/4 years contract, he became the whipping boy for a lot of people.

I think this applies more to armia.

I thought with Byron, people didn't like the contract but I think most people appreciated him deep down.

He's been very injury prone for the last 5 years so I think he kinds faded out of the limelight, although he did return for that 2021 playoff run. As much as that run is remembered for price and Weber's last hurrah, it also applies to Byron.

 

[The Nuge]

Problem is more how the contract cripples the team. That's a lot of money used on one player.

Without a doubt I'm not suggesting the oilers had a better option.

It doesn’t really though. Puljujarvi was more overpaid than Nurse this year for example. I’d rather pay an 8 million dollar dman 9.25 than pay a 1.5 million dollar forward 3. Obviously you don’t want to overpay people but if you’re going to, at least overpay your top guys.

I'll plead no contest on this one, but how do you think he compares to Ekholm?

Nurse is absolutely better than Ekholm, and their minutes have reflected that, but it’s not by a large margin. Woodcroft plays Ekholm 2-3 minutes a night less than Nurse. Even short handed Nurse averaged a fair bit more. Imo, Nurse is a lower end #1, and Ekholm is a higher end #2.

 

[Hostile Offer]

Nurse is not a #1 d-man.
At best he's at the Brent Seabrook level. A good #2.

Seabrook himself is another one. An incredible career marred by a hideous retirement contract.