New York Islanders Five Worst Contracts In Team History

Cal Clutterbuck

Contract: 5 Years, $17.5 Million  Date: December 9th, 2016
After Matt Martin left in free agency, the Islanders fourth line certainly was missing its identity. The team didn’t want to lose another piece off the line so in December of 2016 they decided to extend Cal Clutterbuck for five more years.

Clutterbuck was coming off a year in which he scored 15 goals. He hadn’t done that since the 2011-2012 season, and each one seemed to come at a clutch time.

That significantly dropped off after he signed on for five more years and $17.5 million. Last year Clutter played in just 66 games and had 20 points (five goals, 15 assists) on the year.

This year, in 62 games so far he has 17 points (eight goals, nine assists). The problem is Clutterbuck doesn’t give you the same offense he got paid for. If he continued to put up 15 plus goals a year, this is a different story, but he isn’t.

His hit numbers are coming down as well. After the impressive year of 343 hits in 2014-2015, it’s dropped off to 203 this year. If he isn’t scoring and isn’t the same physical player paying him $3.5 million over the next five years makes zero sense.

The best fourth line in hockey has turned into the most expensive fourth line in hockey The bottom sixes struggles this year don’t justify breaking the piggy bank for these guys.