The 2024 NHL free-agent signing period opened Monday, and the money was flowing wildly with the league's salary cap finally starting to rise.

There were 185 signings that included more than $1 billion in long-term dollars handed out.

While there were some very good bargains to be had, there were also quite a few contracts that look like overpays from the very beginning.

Here, we are going to take a look at a few of those potential overpays.

Chandler Stephenson, Seattle Kraken

The Seattle Kraken went from being a top-10 offensive team in 2022-23 to one of the league's worst offensive squads in 2023-24. It was obvious they were going to have to do something this offseason to address that. They made two huge free-agent investments on Monday, and they were both among the biggest overpays of the day.

Let's start with the most glaring of the two, which is the seven-year, $43.7 million contract given to Chandler Stephenson.

There is nothing wrong with having Stephenson on your roster, especially with the way he progressed after joining the Golden Knights a few years ago and really started to breakout offensively.

But signing non-star players in free agency for seven-year contracts is an especially risky move. When the dollar figure gets up over $6 million per year for a player who is going to be 30 years old next season and saw a 14-point drop in his production despite increasing his shooting percentage, it becomes almost nonsensical.

There are some contracts that you know are going to be a problem for a team before the ink dries.

This could be one of them.

It's a great deal for Stephenson, and a testament to how much his career improved the past few years, but it might be one that Seattle quickly comes to regret.

Brandon Montour, Seattle Kraken

The Kraken's other big free-agent move Monday was to hand out another seven-year deal, this time to Brandon Montour, which came in at $7.1 million per season.

Like Stephenson, there is nothing wrong with wanting Montour on your team.

His game really blossomed in Florida over the past couple of years, reaching his peak with a 73-point effort during the 2022-23 season.

But that offensive performance seems like an extreme outlier in his career, and it seems very unlikely he ever comes close to matching that number again. Especially after going from a loaded Panthers team to a Kraken team that is short on game-breakers and offensive stars.

On one hand, maybe this is just the going rate for an offensive-minded defenseman.

But it seems like the Kraken might have been paying for what he did two years ago instead of the player he is going to be for the next few years.

Good player. But maybe the wrong price.

Nikita Zadorov, Boston Bruins

It's not hard to see why Nikita Zadorov was able to get a big contract on the open market.

He brings massive size (6'6", 248 lbs) and extremely physical play, two things that general managers absolutely love in a defenseman. Add in the fact he had an outstanding playoff showing for the Vancouver Canucks, and you have a player who was definitely going to cash in on the open market.

Zadorov absolutely did when he signed his six-year, $30 million contract with the Boston Bruins.

Even though the Bruins were one of the best goal-prevention teams in the NHL during the 2023-24 season, that success was largely driven by the play of their goalies. Their defense definitely needed an upgrade.

Zadorov's contract isn't the worst overpay of the day, but he probably isn't impactful enough when it comes to driving play, suppressing shots or creating offense to justify the six-year term length and salary-cap number. Especially if they play him more than third-pairing minutes and expect him to fill a key shutdown role.

Joel Edmundson, Los Angeles Kings

NHL general managers are always going to find a spot for players like Joel Edmundson, and they absolutely love acquiring them whenever they have the chance.

As far as overpays go, this is probably one of the least objectionable because it's only worth a little more than $3 million per season over four years.

But even that is still an overpay because, at the end of the day, the 31-year-old Edmundson is probably best suited to be a third-pairing defender on a good team (and the Los Angeles Kings intend to be a good team), and you can probably find that for a cheaper price with shorter term.

It is not a cap-crushing contract.

But it is one of those little deals where, if you make too many of them, they add up into big problems.

Brady Skjei, Nashville Predators

No team made more splashes on Monday than the Nashville Predators.

While the additions of forwards Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault were probably great values given their production, the Skjei contract (seven years, $49 million) does look like a bit of an overpay.

Like with Montour, this might simply be the going rate for a top-four defenseman on the open market, but Skjei is hardly a star and is going to be 30 years old when the season begins. Does he really have that many strong years in front of him?

And again, a seven-year contract on the free-agent market for a player who isn't a star almost never works out long-term. These deals tend to regularly end in a buyout or salary retained trade after just a few years.

If the Predators win the Stanley Cup during those years nobody in Nashville will care. But that is setting a high bar and is far from a given to happen. Odds are much higher it ends in disappointment.