#3. Matt Martin Signing
Contract Details: Four Years, $10 million contract ($2.5 million per season)
Off the ice, Matt Martin is one of the best people in hockey and was loved by everyone in the dressing room; especially Mitch Marner.
On a team full of rookies, he was a great mentor and could stick up for Marner and Auston Matthews if they ever got into trouble.
However, this contract was a disaster.
If you want a comparable contract in the NHL, Zach Hyman currently has a four-year $9 million contract that expires after next season.
Let’s compare stats for these two when they played together in Toronto
Zach Hyman:
- 2016-17 Season: 10 goals, 28 points
- 2017-18 Season: 15 goals, 40 points
Matt Martin:
- 2016-17 Season: 5 goals, 9 points
- 2017-18 Season: 3 goals, 12 points
Hyman’s 2016-17 season was his rookie-year, so it was low for his standards, whereas the seven-year NHL veteran at time, Martin, couldn’t even score 10 points on the season.
During his time in Toronto, every point Martin scored was worth $238,095. That’s not a good return on investment.
Martin was never brought in to score 20 goals, but at $2.5 million per season, that player has to contribute offensively, at least a little, in today’s NHL.
It’s unfortunate that this never worked out because Martin was such an awesome dude, but this was definitely a signing Lamoriello wishes he had back.