At one point in their careers, forward Mika Zibanejad and defenseman Erik Karlsson were members of the Ottawa Senators. Both players were traded by the Senators to end their tenure with the team.
While Zibanejad took time to develop, trading him away in 2016 hurt the Senators when his career took off with the New York Rangers. For Karlsson, he was the captain of the Senators before being traded away to the San Jose Sharks in 2018.
Both Zibanejad and Karlsson missed the playoffs with their teams in 2025 while the Senators made the playoffs after eight long years. As the 2025-26 regular season is months from starting, the two ex-Senators landed on a brutal list.
Zibanejad and Karlsson each have their contract make the top 10 worst contracts list
Two days ago, Bleacher Report's Lyle Richardson wrote an article titled "Ranking the 10 Worst Contracts on the Books Next Season." Both Zibanejad and Karlsson not only made the top 10, but made the top five on the list with the contract that they have.
Zibanejad's contract was ranked as the fifth worst; Karlsson was ranked as the second worst by Richardson.
While Zibanejad's career-high in points for a single season in Ottawa was 51 in the 2015-16 season, his career first took off with the Rangers from 2018-2020 when he recorded back-to-back 70-point seasons. In the 2019-20 season, Zibanejad recorded 41 goals.
Zibanejad continued to be a highly productive player in New York. In the 2022-23 season, Zibanejad set a new career-high with 91 points. However, the 2024-25 season may have been the first decline of Zibanejad with his contract.
In the 2024-25 season, Zibanejad recorded 62 points and the Rangers failed to make the playoffs in 2025 after winning the President's Trophy in 2024. Now at 32 years old, Zibanejad will have an $8.5 million cap hit per year until 2030. With the struggles Zibanejad and the Rangers had in 2025, the contract is looked at bad with the production Zibanejad provided for the Rangers after a solid 2023-24 season.
In his first year after being traded to San Jose, Karlsson was productive with not only winning the 2019 Norris Trophy, but also helping the Sharks reach the 2019 Western Conference Finals.
After that season, Karlsson had an eight-year extension begin at a salary of $11.5 million per year. However, Karlsson's production in San Jose dwindled, but he recovered in 2023 with winning the Norris Trophy after recording a 101-point season.
After his Norris Trophy season in 2023, the Sharks traded Karlsson to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Sharks retained $1.5 million per year in the trade to make it easier to dump the contract.
The Penguins missed the playoffs in 2023 for the first time since 2006, and some thought Karlsson would put Pittsburgh back in playoff contention. However, the Penguins have missed the playoffs with Karlsson on the team for the first two years into his tenure. Karlsson hasn't recorded one 60-point season as a Penguin.
At 35 years old and his production isn't what it used to be, Karlsson has two years remaining on his contract that the Penguins are stuck with. At his salary, it might be difficult for the Penguins to work out a trade with Karlsson involved.
Zibanejad and Karlsson were once dominant players, but their contracts at their age has their teams in a struggle heading into the 2025-26 season. Luckily for the Senators, they don't have to worry about either contract.