5 NHL players you won’t believe are still under contract
The NHL has some long contracts, but injuries have some ending before they really get going. Here are some contracts still on the books that would blow your mind.
2. Bryan Little
Cap Hit: $5.29 million
Contract Ends: 2024
This contract has been in long-term injured reserve limbo for a very long time. He hasn’t played a game since before the pandemic. That is either four or 30 years ago. We can’t really tell. However, Bryan Little has been away from the NHL for a very long time.
Little played his last game November 5, 2019. He was hit in the side of the head by a shot 12 minutes into the game. That was his second concussion in a couple of months, and that was the end. He was with the Winnipeg Jets at the time, but they traded his contract to the Coyotes along with prospect Nathan Smith in 2022. It got the Jets a fourth-round pick in the NHL Draft.
Technically, Little is one of four players still active who was drafted by the Atlanta Thrashers. The other players (Blake Wheeler, Evander Kane, and Zach Bogosian) are at least playing hockey. Little hasn’t touched the ice since 2019.
The Jets made the very strange decision to sign Little, who was about to turn 30 years old, to a six-year contract extension. It was incredibly risky. It ended how most of us assumed. While nobody wants to predict concussion issues, injuries are pretty easy to see coming for a player who plays the game like Little. He was a nose-to-the-grindstone player who never took a shift off.
Latest Xavier Worthy draft rumors prove he’s way out of the Chiefs price range
The Kansas City Chiefs need a wide receiver in the NFL Draft, but Xavier Worthy might be out of their price range.
By Mark Powell
The Kansas City Chiefs need help at the wide receiver position, that much is clear. Rashee Rice is facing felony charges in the Dallas area and could be suspended by the NFL as a result. While Rice could still be in the Chiefs long-term plans, for now they have to operate under the assumption he won’t be on the field to start the season.
At one point in the pre-draft process, the Chiefs were connected to Texas speedster Xavier Worthy. The book on Worthy is that he’s fast — like 4.21 fast — but far more than that as a player.
“In a perfect world, I definitely would want to go to the Chiefs,” said Worthy, h/t USA Today’s Tyler Dragon. “Just the way Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs improvise and use you. They had Tyreek Hill. The way they used him, I feel like that would be a perfect fit for me.”
Xavier Worthy NFL Draft profile: So much more than John Ross
When looking at the Texas product on tape, it becomes clear he’s a solid route-runner as well, which is something the likes of John Ross lacked coming out of college. The Bengals infamously selected Ross because of his speed on the outside, but he never developed that part of his game. Worthy already has that, which is why he’s quickly jumped to WR4 on most draft boards behind the likes of Marvin Harrison Jr., Malik Nabors and Rome Odunze.
Unfortunately for the Chiefs and Worthy, to some extent, he will likely be off the board by the time Brett Veach picks. Unless Kansas City can trade up into the top half of the first round, they’ll have to settle for another new Mahomes target in a very deep wide receiver class.
Why the Chiefs won’t be able to take Xavier Worthy
Per a recent mock draft by ESPN analyst Matt Miller, Worthy has been connected to the Indianapolis Colts at pick No. 15. The Chiefs select 32nd.
“Here’s one where I’m going all-in on intel. The Colts have been linked to Worthy in numerous phone calls and texts over the past week, enough so that I’m buying it. The Colts do need speed at receiver,” Miller wrote.
Trading up above the Colts isn’t impossible, but will require either multiple firsts or more than that in Day 2 picks the next few years. Veach likes building through the draft, but he rarely invests that much in one player.
Worthy-to-KC seems more like a pipe dream at this point.
Ranking the 5 Winnipeg Jets with the most to prove in 2024 NHL playoffs
By Murat Ates
A lot of things have gone right for the Winnipeg Jets since Rick Bowness hastily took his chair in Vegas, calling the team out for a lack of pride against the Golden Knights after its five-game loss last season.
“This series, we had no pushback,” Bowness said after Game 5 last May. “Their better players were so much better than ours. It’s not even close.”
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