Bouwmeester was highly coveted prior to last year's free agency period, so much so that the Calgary Flames traded impending free agent defenseman Jordan Leopold and a third round pick for the rights to negotiate with Bouwmeester a few days before July 1. He signed a 5 year deal worth $33.4 million, a cap hit of about $6.7 million per season, and put up 3 goals and 29 points for Calgary. The Flames were supposed to have the second best if not the best top-3 in the NHL this past season, with Robyn Regehr, Bouwmeester, and Dion Phaneuf, but instead ended up out of the playoff picture, in cap aches, and having traded Phaneuf and top defensive prospect Keith Aulie to Toronto for a package involving Matt Stajan and Ian White.
At the very least, while Bouwmeester wasn't even close to worth his salary (the Capitals got similar if not better play from Jeff Schultz for about $6 million per season less in cap hit) he wasn't a complete liability like Redden turned into.
Runner up:
Vincent Lecavalier--Lecavalier entered the first year of an 11 year, $85 million contract as captain of the Tampa Bay Lightning. If he had performed even close to expectations the Lightning would have made the playoffs, Rick Tocchet would still have a job, and the Capitals would have been in the Stanley Cup Finals. Instead, he went 24-46-70, not even close to good enough for a guy with a cap hit close to $8 million per season for the rest of his career and who made $10 million in raw cash this season. So thanks, Vinny.
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