Tage Thompson of the Buffalo Sabers scores his fourth goal of the first period against the Columbus … [+]
The National Hockey League is getting close to re-balancing its books, but it’s not there yet.
As play resumes Tuesday following the three-day holiday break, 16 of the league’s 32 teams have needed to dip into their long-term injured reserve pool per CapFriendly, in order to remain compliant with the league’s hard salary cap this season, with The ceiling set at $82.5 million.
Cap space is so tight, many teams are also running with rosters below the maximum of 23 players, and many eligible players were shuffled down to teams’ minor-league affiliates over the holiday break to help create a little more room.
Every dollar counts, which makes players on high-value contracts more valuable than ever. And while young stars on cost-controlled entry-level contracts have become an important part of the equation, this all-star team of bargain players comes from the next tier — players who are past the entry-level stage, but who are delivering well. above their current pay grades.
For this list, cost-per-point/win calculations are based on each player’s production to date, against his full-season salary. Stats are current through Monday, December 26.
Forwards
Tage Thompson – Buffalo Sabres
- Cap Hit: $1,400,000
- Stat Line: 32 GP – 26-24-50
- Cost Per Point: $28,000
Yes, Tage Thompson is getting paid — but not until next season.
A few weeks shy of his 25th birthday in October, the big center with the soft hands was entering the final season of a three-year deal when he and the Buffalo Sabers agreed to a seven-year contract extension worth $50 million on the eve of the 2022-23 season. He was coming off a breakout campaign, where he put up 38 goals and 68 points in 78 games.
His production spike had seemingly come out of nowhere, but it has turned out to be sustainable. At the holiday break, Thompson was up to 26 goals in just 32 games, second in the NHL behind only Connor McDavid. At 6’6″, Thompson is a player who needed some time to grow into his body. Now, he embodies a new breed — a skilled scorer and playmaker who’s built like a power forward and has become one of the most exciting players in the NHL.
Gabriel Vilardi – Los Angeles Kings
- Cap Hit: $825,000
- Stat Line: 36 GP – 14-8-22
- Cost Per Point: $37,500
Another big center at 6’3″ and 215 pounds, the Los Angeles Kings had high hopes for Gabriel Vilardi when they drafted him 11th overall back in 2017. But he had difficulty gaining traction for his pro career, slowed by injuries.
Vilardi played 54 of 56 games with the Kings during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season, collecting 10 goals and 23 points. But he found himself back in the AHL for more than half of the 2021-22 campaign.
This summer, as a restricted free agent without arbitration rights, he signed a one-year, one-way deal in July — and set out to prove that he belongs in the NHL.
So far, so good. Vilardi burst out of the gate with eight goals in the month of October. His 14 tallies currently lead the Kings, who are sitting comfortably in second place in the Pacific Division.
His strong production this season should also help him in his next contract negotiation. He’ll be a restricted free agent again at the end of the season, but will have arbitration rights this time around.
Adam Ruzicka – Calgary Flames
- Cap Hit: $762,500
- Stat Line: 25 GP – 6-14-20
- Cost Per Point: $38,125
Like Vilardi, Ruzicka is a big center who was drafted into the NHL in 2017. But the native of Slovakia was not nearly as pedigreed — he spent two years in the Czech junior system before joining the OHL’s Sarnia Sting for his draft season, where he recorded 46 points in 61 games, and was drafted 109th overall.
The Flames brought Ruzicka along slowly. He played three additional seasons of major junior before joining the AHL’s Stockton Heat in the 2019-20 season, then got a three-game cup of coffee with the big club the following year.
Last season, Ruzicka saw just 44 games of action — 16 in the AHL and 28 with the Flames, where he put up 10 points. At 23, he was then at the same crossroads as Vilardi — no longer exempt coming into this season, and with limited bargaining power.
In September, he agreed to a two-year deal, with a two-way component for this season. He made the big club out of camp, but was a healthy scratch for 10 of the Flames’ first 11 games of the year.
When Ruzicka finally did get into the lineup on a consistent basis, he made a positive impression on coach Darryl Sutter. Averaging 12:50 of ice time, his 0.80 points per game ties him with Tyler Toffoli for the second-best rate of offensive production on a Flames team that has struggled to score since Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk left town. His ice time dipped after mid-December, but he was riding a three-game point streak heading into the Christmas break as the Flames fight to stay on the right side of the playoff bar in the West.
Defense
Erik Gustafsson – Washington Capitals
- Cap Hit: $800,000
- Stat Line: 35 GP – 4-13-17
- Cost Per Point: $47,058
It’s easy to make the argument that cost per point is not the best metric to gauge a defenseman’s overall effectiveness — especially at the lower end of team budgets. Of the four NHL defensemen who are averaging better than a point a game this season, the least expensive is Buffalo’s Rasmus Dahlin, with his cap hit of $6 million and a cost per point of $162,162.
At less than one-third of that price, Erik Gustafsson’s performance with the Washington Capitals is noteworthy. The 30-year-old has bounced around since establishing his reputation as an offensive force with his 17-goal, 60-point season with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2018-19, and is now on his fifth different team.
But even while Washington coach Peter Laviolette is known for his stout defensive system, Gustafsson has thrived. On a Caps team that has struggled with injuries, he has averaged 19:33 of ice time per game, the most since his time in Chicago. Thirteen of his 17 points have come at even strength and at plus-two, he hasn’t been a defensive liability.
Connor Clifton – Boston Bruins
- Cap Hit: $1,000,000
- Stat Line: 33 GP – 3-9-12
- Cost Per Point: $83,333
They say a rising tide floats all boats, and that appears to be the case for Connor Clifton. The 27-year-old, who was a fifth-round pick by the Boston Bruins in 2013, has seen his role increase this season on the NHL’s best team. He’s averaging a career-high 19:02 of ice time per game, and his 12 points to date already beat his previous career high of 10, set in 60 games last season.
Clifton’s breakout is well timed. His $1 million cap hit comes from the last season of a 3-year contract which will make him an unrestricted free agent at the end of 2022-23. With the Bruins leading the league in points and just about every other key statistic, he should get plenty of attention from other teams over the next few months, and could parlay that attention into a tidy payday on his next day.
Goal
Logan Thompson – Vegas Golden Knights
- Cap Hit: $766,667
- Stat Line: 24 GP – 16-8-2
- Cost Per Win: $31,944
An undrafted 25-year-old from Calgary, Thompson signed a two-year entry-level contract with the Vegas Golden Knights during the summer of 2020, following a strong season with the South Carolina Stingrays in the ECHL. After a season-and-a-half of good work with the Golden Knights’ AHL affiliate, he re-upped in January of 2022 on a three-year deal, which took effect this season.
It wasn’t until March that he was called up to finish out the season in Vegas — and with a record of 10-5-3 and a .914 save percentage, he played well enough to keep the Golden Knights’ faint playoff hopes alive. until the last week of the season.
This year, Thompson has picked up right where he left off, with an identical .914 save percentage and 2.66 goals-against average. And the Golden Knights are back in first place in the Pacific Division.
Just young enough to qualify for rookie-of-the-year consideration, Thompson is undoubtedly the best goaltending bargain in the NHL this season. And even better for Vegas, he’s locked up for two more seasons after this on his bargain-basement deal.
After an unlikely path to hockey’s top level, Thompson has proven that he belongs.
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