Oilers, Flames Forwards Highest Paid Benchwarmers in NHL

The Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers have two of the highest paid benchwarmers in the NHL

Nov 21, 2024; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Edmonton Oilers forward Derek Ryan (10) protects the puck from Minnesota Wild defensemen Zach Bogosian (24) during the third period at Rogers Place. Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-Imagn Images / Perry Nelson-Imagn Images

The life of an NHL player is a difficult one, no matter if you're a superstar or fourth-line forward. For some players, however, they are managing to get incredible value on their deals. Look no further than the two combatants in the Battle of Alberta: the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames.

Both the Flames and Oilers have some of the highest paid players in the league. The Oilers have superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl occupying significant portions of their salary cap while the Flames have players like Jonathan Huberdeau making over $10 million annually. But according to a list compiled by Canada Sports Betting, each team is also guilty of paying way too much for far less production in the bottom of their lineup.

There's two players in particular that stood out on CSB's research: Derek Ryan of the Oilers and Ryan Lomberg of the Flames. Each is a respected veteran, but they are making a ridiculous amount of money to play sparingly and contribute offensively even less.

Derek Ryan - Edmonton Oilers

In his defense, the Oilers didn't bring Derek Ryan in to be an offensive juggernaut. Rather, they brought him in to win face-offs and make life hard on opposing forwards.

The problem is that the Oilers don't play him. He's dressed in 32 games, but played less than 10 minutes in over half of them. He's compiled an average ice-time of 9:32 per game, and it's led to one goal and five points. He makes $900K against the salary cap, which isn't a problem for the Oilers to fit, but for how little he brings offensively, he's one of the highest paid bench warmers in the NHL.

Ryan Lomberg - Calgary Flames

Winning a Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers earned Ryan Lomberg a huge contract for a depth player, but the Flames valued his experience and hard-working attitude and ponied up for his services.

It's hard to understand why they decided to give him a two-year contract with an average annual salary of $2 million however. Not because Lomberg is an ineffective player, but because the Flames are basically paying him just for the vibes.

He's currently averaging less than nine minutes of ice-time per game (8:44, to be exact) over 37 games this season. He has one goal and three assists to show for it. When he was at his best with the Panthers, he played between 11 and 12 minutes per game and wound up being a strong contributor in the limited role. That's not the case in Calgary, and instead he's a very wealthy benchwarmer.

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