5 CRIPPLING CONTRACTS IN THE NHL TODAY

Everybody knows that the rising price of free agents, coupled with the recent economic downturn spells bad news for the NHL. Now, with superstar players signing ten or eleven year deals, teams won't be able to surround those players with enough talent to win on a consistent basis when the salary cap goes down. Maybe some long term deals, like the one Washington gave to Alexander Ovechkin, are worth it. Here are five that are not.

5. Mike Commodore- Blue Jackets, 5-years, $18.75 million
This sure seems like too big a contract for a team like the Blue Jackets to be giving to Mike Commodore. Columbus is desperately trying to claw it's way into the Western Conference playoffs (don't worry, they'll make it), but are they really a Cup contender? Depth on the blue line is certainly an issue for them (it is for most teams), so why throw such a long term deal at Commodore? It would have been more beneficial for GM Scott Howson to spend that money on two shorter, cheaper contracts than throwing it all at the 29-year old, who is now playing for his fifth different team.

4. Wade Redden- Rangers, 6-years, $39 million
Redden signed this monster deal to join the Big Apple circus this past offseason, and is already booed every time he touches the puck at MSG. The 31-year-old defenseman, who was rated number one on SI writer Allan Muir's Free Agents most likely to bust column, parlayed 11 pretty good years in Ottawa into this mega deal. Needless to say, it hasn't quite worked out. Redden was a plus-159 in his career for the Sens. He's a minus-9 through 64 games with the Rangers.

3. Scott Gomez- Rangers, 7-years, $51.25 million
Gomez, now in his second season with the Rangers, hasn't exactly lived up to his massive contract. New York has struggled to score goals consistently, and were somewhat handicapped at the trade deadline because of the massive cap hits that come with both Gomez and Redden (above). Gomez's 47 points put him 66th in the NHL. Not exactly what Glen Sather wanted when he agreed to this monstrosity.

2. Daniel Briere- Flyers, 8-years, $52 million
Briere also signed his deal before last season, and will be in Philadelphia for a long long time. Briere has struggled with injuries, but more than anything is giving the Flyers serious salary cap issues that they will have for years to come. Bobby Clarke allegedly dangled Briere (and his mega contract) before the trade deadline, but nobody wanted to touch that albatross, so Briere remains a Flyer. Throw that in with the 12-year deal they signed Mike Richards to, and Philly is looking at major problems down the road.

1. Rick DiPietro- Islanders, 15-years, $67.5 million
What is there to say about this? DiPietro will make $4.5 million every season until 2021. Sure seems ridiculous considering his recurring health problems, and the fact that the Islanders are neck deep in red ink. Apparantly the Isles didn't learn anything from the 10-year, $87.1 million mistake that Alexei Yashin signed in 2001. DiPietro's deal is guaranteed and will have to be paid in full should the netminder be forced to retire due to injuries. While nobody is saying that he'll need to give up hockey, DiPietro has struggled to stay healthy. He has missed all but five games this season, and will miss the remainder of the year. DiPietro has had three surgeries in the past year, including knee and hip operations. The only thing we can do here is ask what were they thinking?