Earlier this week, PHR looked at the forwards who gave their teams the cheapest cost per point in the NHL last season. Today, we flip the list over. These are the ten forwards whose points came at the highest price in 2025-26, and unlike the bargains, whose seasons mostly yielded big paydays, almost everyone here is still on the books. For their teams, the question isn’t what these players will cost next; it’s how many years of their current contracts remain.
This list excludes players on their entry-level contracts and includes forwards who appeared in at least half (42) of games during the 2015-26 season.
The list:
Brandon Tanev ($833K Per Point) — No forward’s points cost more last season. Tanev went goalless across 56 games in his first season in Utah, and his three assists against a $2.5MM cap hit worked out to roughly $833K apiece, the worst rate in the league by a comfortable margin. The Mammoth signed him to a three-year deal last July expecting energy and penalty killing, and the physicality showed up (135 hits), but the offense vanished entirely, and by late season he was a nightly healthy-scratch candidate. While Tanev, along with many of the other players on this list, hasn’t made a career off offensive production, his three-point campaign in 2025-26 is an alarming drop-off from his ten-goal, 22-point season just one year prior. Tanev has two years remaining at $2.5MM.
Garnet Hathaway ($800K Per Point) — Hathaway’s game has never been about scoring, but three points in 66 games stretched even that job description. His $2.4MM hit priced those points at $800K each in his final full season in Philadelphia, though he did lead the Flyers with 252 hits, ninth-most in the league. Similar to Tanev, Hathaway’s production took a huge hit from the year prior, when he tallied ten goals and 21 points. For Flyers fans, Hathaway’s lackluster regular season was all but forgotten when he stepped up with a goal and an assist in a Round 1 Game 2 win against Pittsburgh. Hathaway moved on in June, with the Flyers trading him to Florida while retaining half his deal, so the Panthers get his final year at an effective $1.2MM.
Maxim Tsyplakov ($563K Per Point) — Nobody on this list traveled more. Tsyplakov opened the year on Long Island, was dealt to New Jersey in January, and by June had been packaged to Calgary alongside Simon Nemec, three organizations in six months for a player who managed four points in 49 games between the Islanders and Devils, about $563K per point on his $2.25MM hit. The production ability is there; Tsyplakov was a 30-goal scorer for Spartak Moskva in the KHL before coming to North America. In his rookie season on Long Island, the Russian had a ten-goal, 35-point season. The Flames, who finished dead last in the NHL in goals for during 2025-26, are hoping that a fresh start will re-ignite some offensive production.
Trent Frederic ($550K Per Point) — The scariest entry here isn’t the rate, it’s the runway. Frederic produced seven points in 74 games in his first full season in Edmonton on a $3.85MM hit, while never quite looking recovered from the high-ankle sprain he carried into the eight-year, $30.8MM extension the Oilers gave him last summer. The St. Louis native will look to find the game that made him a former 40-point scorer in Boston, and Edmonton would welcome the added depth scoring, which has been a weakness for them the past several seasons. That deal has seven years left, the longest remaining commitment on this list by a wide margin.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi ($536K Per Point) — The strangest season on the list: Kotkaniemi is a Stanley Cup champion who didn’t play a single second of Carolina’s championship run. Scratched frequently through a nine-point, 42-game regular season ($536K per point at a $4.82MM hit), he then sat for all 19 playoff games as the Hurricanes won it all. Four years remain, and the buyout-versus-trade debate has hung over him all summer. Kotkaniemi’s name has been attached to Alexander Nikishin trade rumors, with some speculation Carolina wants to attach the forward to any deal in hopes of unloading his contract.
Frank Vatrano ($508K Per Point) — Two years removed from a 37-goal season, Vatrano’s offense collapsed to nine points in 50 games, about $508K per point on his $4.57MM hit, though he has a better excuse than most: a fractured shoulder in late December cost him 22 games, and Anaheim’s emerging young forwards squeezed his role even when healthy. With Anaheim in a bit of a cap crunch and rumors circulating about Verbeek looking to move some contracts, Vatrano’s name has been in the mix along with Alex Killorn and Chris Kreider. Two years remain on the deal.
Ryan Reaves ($450K Per Point) — The list’s elder enforcer and its lone expiring contract. Reaves gave San Jose three goals and nothing else across 50 games at 39 years old, playing under eight minutes a night for $450K per point on a $1.35MM hit. That deal is now up, and he’s an unsigned free agent who has said publicly he’d like to finish his career as a Shark. San Jose currently has $12MM in cap space with 13 forwards signed so it will be interesting to see if GM Mike Grier looks to bring Reaves back.
Jonathan Huberdeau ($420K Per Point) — The biggest name and the biggest number. Huberdeau’s 25 points in 50 games came at $420K apiece on his $10.5MM cap hit, but the context matters: he played the entire season through a chronic hip problem, was shut down at the Olympic break, and underwent hip resurfacing surgery in March. Calgary still owes him five more years at $10.5MM with a no-movement clause, making his recovery the most consequential rehab of the Flames’ offseason. Before the 2025-26 season, Huberdeau’s production has been steady during his time in Calgary; however, the Flames have long hoped to find the former 115-point scorer they acquired in the Matthew Tkachuk trade during the 2022 offseason.
Ondrej Palat ($400K Per Point) — Palat’s season is permanently linked to the No. 3 entry on this list: New Jersey shipped him to the Islanders in January in the trade that sent Tsyplakov the other way. Between the two stops, he managed 15 points in 80 games, about $400K per point at a $6MM hit. One year remains on the deal he signed off back-to-back Cups in Tampa, a contract that never even produced a 40-point season.
Phillip Danault ($324K Per Point) — The cheapest bad value in hockey, if that’s a title. Danault went goalless through 30 games in Los Angeles before a reportedly messy December with LA sent him back to Montreal, where his game stabilized somewhat; he finished with 17 points in 75 combined games, around $324K per point on his $5.5MM hit. The Canadiens have him for one more season before the deal expires in 2027. Montreal is certainly hopeful Danault can find another gear in 2026 and provide depth production in that 40-point range that the 32-year-old center has for much of his career.
All contract information provided by Puckpedia.