Despite another pending labor dispute between the NHL owners and players, there have been some huge contracts given out so far this off-season. Two contracts are worth noting because of the potential risk involved. The Pittsburgh Penguins gave Sidney Crosby a massive $104.4-million, 12-year extension that pays him $36-million over the first 3 years of the contract. Meanwhile the St. Louis Blues gave David Perron a 4-year $15.25-million contract. Both players have had serious concussion issues over the last few seasons with Perron missing the first 25 games of the 2011-12 season while Crosby has only played 63 regular season games over the last 2 seasons. Despite the missed games due to head injury, both players had good numbers this past season. Perron had 21 goals and 21 assists in 57 regular season games while Crosby had 8 goals and 29 assists in only 22 games played. If both players are able to stay free of future head injuries then their contracts make sense, but if they end of missing a significant number of games over the next few seasons, then it will leave many to wonder if the risk in signing these head-injury prone players was worth it.

Link to Globe and Mail Crosby article

Link to NHL.com Perron article

Dr. Chad Moreau is the President of HockeyOT.com, an online training site dedicated to improving the fitness level of hockey players of all levels. He was the former Strength & Conditioning/Nutrition Consultant for the Edmonton Oilers (NHL) and the Long Beach Ice Dogs (ECHL). For more information please visit hockeyot.com.