With news of Ryane Clowe possibly missing the rest of the season, it is looking more and more like this could be the worst signing in New Jersey Devils‘ history.

The team seemed to avoid signing the big-money player that didn’t pay off. The Devils avoided re-signing the home-grown star to a huge contract, in which he left to play for the New York Rangers . They also watched Bobby Holik go to the same team for too much money. Lou Lamoriello seemed to make this team great with team-friendly contracts and getting the most out of role players.

The Devils have had their share, just like every other team, of really bad signings. This isn’t like them. Anton Volchenkov was a very good penalty killer, something the team could really use this season. Now that he is gone, it seems like he was one of the main reasons the team ranked in the top five most years in PK. Ilya Kovalchuk was a superstar who was going to get a historic contract. The Devils made the decision, possibly over Lamoriello’s head, to give Kovalchuk a 15-year deal. He retired, which may end up being a blessing, but it did put a hole on the team’s roster.

This Clowe contract is different from all of them. He was coming off the worst season of his career. He was in a relatively short free agency pool. Teams were overpaying everyone. Former Devil David Clarkson was given a $36.75 million deal. Nathan Horton took a $37.1 million deal for seven years. Vincent Lecavalier was given a five-year deal that the Philadelphia Flyers can’t give away.

The problem is Clowe was coming in with a major concussion issue. In today’s NHL, concussion issues are career-enders. It seems like this is going to be unfortunate proof. Clowe has been out of action since Nov. 8. It doesn’t seem like he will see the ice again this season in a regular season game.

Not only injuries, but Clowe was ineffective in New York. He was traded from the San Jose Sharks, where he had zero goals in 28 games. He was only able to play in 11 games with the Rangers. As the Detroit Red Wings learned with Stephen Weiss, don’t give a huge contract to a player coming off his worst season.

That is what makes this the worst contract in Devils’ history. It looked like a bad idea when it was signed. It looks even worse now. It is becoming more and more real that the team may be paying Clowe to stay home and recover for the remaining three years of his contract. There will be $4.85 million a year owed until 2018.

Nick Villano is the New Jersey Devils writer for Rant Sports. He also adds to the site’s NBA, MLB and NFL content. You can follow him on Twitter or add him to your Google circle.