In the NHL, contracts matter. For better or worse, every player is judged based on the money he makes and whether he’s worth the price. It may not matter as much as it used to, but it still matters.This piece is about the players that are well worth the money — the best deals in the league. It’s when you ask yourself — “How is this guy making that much?” — but in a good way.There are a number of team-friendly deals out there. According to each player’s projected value over the remainder of their deals, these are the league’s 10 best contracts.Did the Panthers and Lightning fleece the Leafs?Sean McIndoe and Jonas SiegelThe goal here is to grade contracts empirically, with the same context being applied to each player across the league: How much value does each player bring to the table per year and over the life of the contract. The way that’s measured comes from comparing a player’s Net Rating and the expected salary that comes with it to a player’s current contract.What players have already done holds no merit; this is about the future value of the deal, with age effects based on player comps taken into account while accounting for expected salary growth. Contract clauses and bonus structure are important, but not considered with this assessment. Players on LTIR were not considered.1. Lane HutsonContract: $8.9M x eight years