i would argue Vasy at 9.5m is a bit much as no goalie should be paid over 7m but also cant deny hes been worth his contract since day 1

Yeah, Krug or Leddy, pick your poison.

Not only is Letang's contract not the worst on the Pens, it's not even a bad contract. He hasn't met expectations, I get it, but our expectations were a lot higher than $6.1M.

I'd say one of Carter or Granlund should be here instead. Maybe Dumoulin, but it's about to expire.

Letang has 5 more years with a cap hit over $6M, he's over 35 YO, and his game has already declined in the first year of the contract.
Carter's contract is awful but will expire after next season.
Dumoulin? Read description.

It's crazy the Blues didn't re-sign Pietrangelo, but spend more collectively on Krug, Leddy, and Scandella than what Pietrangelo makes.

Petro left because Army would not give him an NMC. The Blues offer was actually a little higher than Vegas'.

Yeah I just mean how they've allocated money to their defense since his departure. I know they signed Scandella before Pietrangelo hit the market (which shocked me at the time), but it seems like those decisions are the core reasons why STL went into an early rebuild.

Scandella played very well with Parayko from the start, very J Bo like. And even with his eventual top pairing mistakes, he's been a solid enough soldier. He has been the least of their LD problems. Leddy was a brutal mistake TWICE and Krug has definitely slumped this season, but was mostly worth his hit until then. Leddy is the biggest problem. Easy. And Army could have left that terrible trade behind, but no. 4x4 with NTC. HORRID.

The only two I’d contest are the rangers and the penguins

For the rangers: should be Trouba
For the penguins: should be Granlund

Letang had a tough stretch because of the death of his father and another stroke. He's played very well recently, despite the Pens' woes. His decline has been greatly exaggerated.
And I don't care how bad it will be in the back half of the contract when the Pens would suck whether he's making $6M or league minimum. The Pens' window might as well be closed because of Hextall's moves. It probably would've been open for another few years if he were competent. Carter's been the team's biggest liability this season. He and Dumo are half the reason why our window is probably closed.
Letang's contract is the worst without context, but probably one of the best with context.