With a possible lockout looming over the sport, mainly because owners want players to take a big salary rollback and less money from revenues, you would think we would see teams being a bit more frugal. Instead, a big spending team with a big spending owner is bucking the trend by overspending.

Power forwards Scott Hartnell and Wayne Simmonds of the Philadelphia Flyers were recently rewarded for career years with a new six-year contract each. Hartnell’s new deal is worth $28.5 million and carries a $4.75 million cap hit; Simmonds’ deal is worth $23.85 million in total, with a $3.975 million cap hit. Both contracts don’t begin until the 2013-14 season.

Hartnell will be 31-years-old by the time his new contract begins, so good on him for getting secured for six seasons that will likely take him to the end of his career. But with tighter restraints likely coming in the next CBA, I think Philly regrets giving him such a long term at top dollar.

There is no doubting that Hartnell is coming off of a fantastic season, one that saw him score 37 goals and become an All-Star for the first time. But history isn’t kind to rough and tumble (“Hartnell Down!”) wingers that set career-highs at 30-years-old. If he continues to play with uber-star Claude Giroux, he will still be a productive player, and may still flirt with 30 goals for a couple of seasons.

But look into the future, and try to convince me that a 36- or 37-year-old Hartnell will be more than a 15-20 goal third line winger with some power play time. With the need to be more budget-conscious, paying $4.75 million for that production is not a wise investment.

Good on Simmonds, too. There is nothing wrong with him getting a six-year deal that will begin when he is 25-years-old; the problem is overpaying a third-line winger. GM Paul Holmgren clearly looked only at last season and not the players’ history.

Simmonds’ 28 goals last year weren’t just a career-high, they were an anomaly. In the two preceding seasons Simmonds totaled 30 goals. He wasn’t even a big goal scorer in junior, but a quality all-around physical presence who could score goals in the dirty areas. Looking at the numbers, it is easy to attribute his big year to his shooting percentage, which was well above his norm and unlikely to duplicate.

Both players are likely to be hurt by the Flyers’ offseason departures. One of the reasons Hartnell succeeded at even strength was also having Jaromir Jagr on his line. Likewise, Simmonds benefited from the veteran’s presence on the power play. Gone is also James van Riemsdyk, meaning there are two fewer top-six forwards on the roster that defenses will be keying on, putting more eyes, more responsibility, and more pressure on Hartnell and Simmonds.

So for the Flyers, I like Hartnell’s salary but don’t like his term, and the opposite is true for Simmonds’ contract. In the players’ shoes, there isn’t anything to dislike.

Grade for Hartnell & Simmonds: A

Grade for Philadelphia: B-