Most overpaid/underpaid players during the 2008/09 season

Canadianbusiness.com has a fantastic article on the most and least valuable players in the NHL. What they did was take the salary of the player and figure out either the dollars per points, dollars per minute on ice, or dollars per save and shutout. The results are very interesting, and they prove that it's easy to pick out Crosbys and Ovechkins, but it takes experience and a bit of luck to find a Joel Ward or a Jan Hejda.

It also proves that big contracts don't always guarantee on ice success.

Here's the full list of most valuable players for all positions.

So lets get to it. The top 3 forwards in terms of value last season were:

1. Kris Versteeg (Chicago Blackhawks). $490,000 ÷ 53 points = $9,245 per point.
2. Alexandre Burrows (Vancouver Canucks). $525,000 ÷ 51 points = $10,294 per point.
3. Rich Peverley (Atlanta Thrashers). $475,000 ÷ 44 points = $12,329

Defenseman are measured by total ice time for the season.

The top 3 defenseman were:

1. Duncan Keith (Chicago Blackhawks). $1,600,000 ÷ 1968m = $813/m
2. Dennis Wideman (Boston Bruins). $3,250,000 ÷ 1946m = $1,670/m
3. Willie Mitchell (Vancouver Canucks). $3,500,000 ÷ 1878m = $1,864/m

The goalie calculation is sort of complicated. It takes the dollars per saves, then the dollars per goal allowed, subtracts the saves from the goals allowed, and gets the number at the end. I'm not going to write out the entire calculation, mostly because I'll probably get it wrong anyway.

The top 3 goalies were:

1. Pekka Rinne (Nashville Predators). $575,000 = $36 ($per save - $per GA)
2. Scott Clemmensen (New Jersey Devils). $500,000 = $40 ($per save - $per GA)
3. Jonathan Quick (Los Angeles Kings). $550,000 = $43 ($per save - $per GA)

But of course, the fun is reading about the most overpaid players. These calculations are more simple, and boil it down to dollars per points or dollars per save. Here are the most overpaid players by position from the 2008/09 season:

• Center: Bobby Holik (Atlanta Thrashers). $2,500,000 ÷ 9 points = $277,778 per point.
• Right Wing: Eric Godard (Calgary Flames). $725,000 ÷ 4 points = $181,250 per point.
• Left Wing: Donald Brashear (Washington Capitals). $1,200,000 ÷ 4 points = $300,000 per point.
• Defenseman: Scott Hannan (Colorado Avalanche). $4,500,000 ÷ 10 points = $450,000 per point.
• Goaltender: Jean-Sebastien Giguere (Anaheim Ducks) $5,500,000 = $4,795 per save.

So there you have it, the most overpaid/underpaid players during the 2008/09 season.