3. A seemingly low-risk maneuver gone wrong
Viktor Stalberg had become a very serviceable player coming into his fifth year in the NHL, and Poile made what looked like a safe play to shore up his middle six.
Poile signed Stalberg to a four-year, $12M contract with a modified no-trade clause throughout its entirety, and at age 28, he was going to be as good if not better than he had been. Or so we thought.
All Stalberg did was become invisible. He bottomed out so hard to the point where he recorded only 28 points in 95 total games played in two seasons.
This contract would be bought out at its halfway point, forcing the Predators to suffer a $4,666,667 penalty in 2015 across the following four seasons.
In hindsight, this was the beginning of the end for Stalberg, as he would register stints with the New York Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes, and Ottawa Senators, and contribute next to nothing.
As is the case with any bad contract, you want to point at the GM for his mistake, but few would have predicted this to happen.
The relatively low buyout cost also eases the blow of this bad signing, but we cannot overlook the fact that Stalberg’s complete lack of production made his contract a liability above all else.