Who Are the Potential Buyout Candidates
Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff: Seravalli writes about the top seven players who could be buyout candidates when the window opens 48 hours after the Stanley Cup is awarded. As Servavalli, these are just seven, and there could be others.
1) T.J. Brodie – Chicago Blackhawks
It appears that there is not enough room for T.J. Brodie on the blueline in Chicago. Brodie has one year left at $3.75 million AAV, and if they were to buy him out, then the Blackhawks would have him on the cap for two more seasons. One year at $3.23 million and the final year at $258,000. While it is a tough decision and year one would hurt, in the end, it might be the best course of action for a team not yet ready for the playoffs.
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2) Pierre Engvall – New York Islanders
When the New York Islanders gave Pierre Engvall a seven-year contract at $3 million AAV, there was a lot of head scratching. While a longer-term deal keeps the AAV for the type of player Engvall is, seven years was a lot. Most figured he would not see the end of this deal with the Islanders. He has five years left at $3 million, which would mean 10 years at $1 million a season. Happy Bobby Bonilla and Rick DiPietro Day for Engvall if this does happen. Luckily, there are no signing bonuses attached.
3) Matt Dumba – Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars are in a cap crunch, as NHLRumors.com has documented. One of the names that the Stars are trying to trade is Matt Dumba, who has one year left at $3.75 million. Ideally, Stars GM Jim Nill will want to trade him. If he can’t, Dumba would be bought by the Stars, having cap hits of $1.42 million in year one and $1.2 million in year two. Even with the cap going up, they are going to want to trade him to get the whole amount off the books.
Note: If they can’t get a team to take the whole salary, it makes more sense to try to retain salary for a year at 50 percent ($1.875 million) than buy him out.
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4) Joe Veleno – Chicago Blackhawks
Veleno is under the age of 26, which means he has a one-third buyout instead of a two-thirds buyout, saving the Blackhawks money. He has one year left at $2.275 million after being acquired from the Detroit Red Wings. The cost savings would be $1.2 million in real cash, with Chicago having Veleno on their books for two seasons: one at $796,000 and the second at $296,000. Chicago needs to figure out who they are up front.
5) Mathieu Joseph – St. Louis Blues
As Seravalli writes, Blues GM Doug Armstrong hates buyouts. Remember, Armstrong put everyone on the trade block this year as a threat. But if the Blues want to maximize their cap space, they could buy out Mathieu Joseph, who has one year left at $2.96 million. If the Blues go down that route, St. Louis would have two years with him on the cap: one year at $750,000 and the second year at $1.1 million. With the cap going up, neither of these cap hits is terrible.
6) Justin Holl – Detroit Red Wings
Here is another contract that didn’t make sense at the time: Justin Holl signing a three-year contract worth $10.2 million with an average annual value (AAV) of $3.4 million. Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman took a chance on Holl, but most people knew who he was, and most figured he would not see out the contract in Detroit. If he bought out the Red Wings, he would have two years at $1.13 million per year. Now they could hang on to him and move him at the deadline.
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7) Marc-Édouard Vlasic – San Jose Sharks
One of the longest tenured San Jose Sharks defenseman, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who is finishing up his eight-year contract that pays him $7 million a season, back from 2017. As Servalli points out, this may or may not happen. Vlasic is owed a $2 million signing bonus on July 1, so the cap hit in the first year of the buyout is $4.3 million, with the second being less at $1.17 million. Vlasic only played 27 games last year. Teams are always looking for defensemen, and the Sharks found a way to move Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson, so maybe a trade isn’t out of the question.
Other potential candidates include Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry (cost prohibitive), St. Louis Blues defenseman Nick Leddy (trade candidate), and Toronto Maple Leafs forward David Kampf (signing bonus preventative). In addition, you could include New Jersey Devils players Erik Haula and Ondrej Palat.
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