Glenn Davis

USATODAY

There are few people more valuable in sports than star players. They're so valuable there might only be one class of player more valuable: star players on below-market contracts. USA TODAY Sports looked at both the dollars and the on-field numbers to find the best example of this type of player in all four major sports. We analyzed the combination of good fortune and shrewd management that allowed organizations to land these players - and keep them around. We previously looked at MLB, where we highlighted the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim's Mike Trout, and the NFL, where Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte David took top honors. Next up: the NHL, and Montreal Canadiens left wing Max Pacioretty.

As mentioned when we looked at the St. Louis Blues' success with modest payrolls, the NHL's salary structure ensures that money is more evenly distributed among teams than in relatively unregulated baseball. The same is true of players: according to data from Spotrac, only eight players in the league will make a base salary of $10 million or more this coming season. Even the salary-capped NBA far outstrips that number.

Even so, there are relative bargains to be found, and in August 2012, the Montreal Canadiens assured themselves of one of the league's best for years to come when they signed winger Max Pacioretty to a six-year, $27 million extension that runs through the 2018-19 season. As pointed out in this list of high-return NHL deals, Pacioretty has the seventh-most goals in the NHL over the last three seasons, and for an average of several million dollars per year less than the six players ahead of him.

How did Montreal lock him up at such a good price? It struck early. In 2011-12, Pacioretty, then 23, posted a team-leading 65 points on 33 goals and 32 assists, both easily career highs. Rather than wait for him to hit restricted free agency the following offseason, the Canadiens moved quickly to sign him to a deal that paid him more than twice (and eventually, about three times) what he made at the time, betting his career would continue its upward trajectory.

Pacioretty made the Canadiens look smart. He posted 39 points in 44 games in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, then scored a career-high 39 goals - fourth in the league - when his new deal kicked in last season, helping Montreal reach the conference finals. That leaves five years left on his contract, and a cap hit of only $4.5 million per season. Pacioretty doesn't turn 26 until November 20, so the contract is set to carry him through what should be the best years of his career.

Pacioretty's production is all the more impressive considering that less than four years ago, one scary incident threatened to throw his career off course. On March 8, 2011, Zdeno Chara, the Bruins' 6-9, 255-pound defenseman, checked Pacioretty into the stanchion where the team bench ends and the glass begins. Though the severity of the impact was unintentional and Chara was not suspended, Pacioretty was left with a fractured neck vertebra and severe concussion. He didn't play again that season.

He swiftly answered any doubts about the injury's lingering effects when he came back healthy in 2011-12, with his aforementioned 65-point breakout season. For his efforts, Pacioretty also earned the Masterton Trophy for exceptional perseverance. That combination of tenacity and talent served him well then, and thanks to Montreal's quick realization of what it had, it will keep serving the Canadiens - and their fans - well for at least the next half decade.