With the NHL’s salary landscape climbing fast, the league is filling up with massive extensions and bigger price tags. That makes the real steals stand out even more - the contracts that look friendly now and could become downright absurd value before long.
There are obvious names you can point to. Macklin Celebrini’s new $18.8 million-per-season deal will likely be worth it, and Connor McDavid at $12.5 million is still one of the sport’s best bargains.
But even those don’t quite measure up to the best team-friendly contracts in the league. If a deal is so good that a player should basically be considered untradeable, these are the four that rise to the top.
Cole Caufield sits near the top of that conversation at a $7.85 million cap hit. He’s no longer just a promising scorer - he’s a real 50-goal threat after putting up 51 last season, following a 37-goal year at age 24.
For the Montreal Canadiens, that kind of production at that number is the dream scenario. And the ceiling may be even higher.
Caufield looks like the kind of player who could go 50 and 50 for a 100-point season in 2026-27. That’s elite output at a very manageable cost.
Honorable Mention: Lane Hutson and Nick Suzuki
Zach Hyman is another deal that jumps off the page, and maybe the most impressive free-agent signing the Edmonton Oilers have made in the last five seasons. His seven-year contract at $5.5 million has delivered exactly what the team hoped for - and then some.
He scored 31 goals in 58 games last season, has never finished with fewer than 27 goals in a season, and delivered a 54-goal run in 2023-24. The only real concern is age.
At 34, he’s the oldest player on this list. But his cap hit is also the lowest, and that combination makes his contract one of the best values in hockey.
Dylan Guenther checks in at a $7.14 million cap hit, and the Utah Mammoth clearly knew what they had when they handed him an eight-year, $57 million extension. His scoring track points in a clear direction: 40 goals in 2025-26, then seasons of 27 and 18.
He’s only 23, he shoots the puck, and the expectation here is that a 50-goal season is coming soon - maybe even in 2026-27. For Utah, that’s the kind of player you lock up before the price really explodes.
Tage Thompson is right there with Guenther at $7.14 million, and his deal may look even better as time passes. He’s under contract through 2029-30, giving the Buffalo Sabres years of value before they have to think about the next one.
Thompson is a regular 40-goal scorer who could reach 50 in any of the seasons left on the deal. He’s the offensive engine for Buffalo, and his combination of size and skill makes him a rare kind of player.
There are a couple of other names worth mentioning, too. Matthew Knies has a strong contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but the fact that they’re apparently considering trading him keeps him out of the top four. Seth Jarvis also brings strong value for the Carolina Hurricanes, though his $15.67 million in deferred compensation until July 1, 2032 is what leaves him outside this group.
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Russian Stars Absence Leaves International Hockey Facing Unseen Cost
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For a sport that still prides itself on global competition, the absence of Russian teams leaves a visible hole in events that shape the next wave of stars and establish the pecking order among hockey powers. The on-ice consequences are obvious, but the larger question lingers too: how long can international hockey keep drawing its lines this way before the political backdrop starts changing the game itself? [Read more 🡒]