Top 5 NHL buyout candidates this offseason
Anthony Scultore
|
The NHL buyout window opens on September 25th and runs through October 8th. That is the day before free agency starts. It is expected that several teams will use the buyout option thanks to a flat cap of $81.5 million. On top of that, many teams will also be using an internal cap of $70 million, making this a wild offseason to predict.
NHL Buyout candidates: Brent Seabrook
Chicago Blackhawks defenseman, Brent Seabrook is 35 years-old and coming off an injury riddled season. He has four years left on a deal with an AAV of $6.875 million.
Currently, the Hawks have $8 million in cap space for next season. A Seabrook buyout will only give them a $291,000 savings next season, but a huge $3.3 million in 2021-22.
A lot of this is dependent on if Seabrook will want to retire or if the Hawks can put him on LTIR and buy him out the following season. Injured players can’t be bought out.
NHL Buyout candidates: Zach Parise
The Minnesota Wild want to get better, and younger. They already moved Eric Staal but actually took on some salary. Bill Guerin is heading into this offseason with around $11 million in space but could get some more.
Zach Parise is 36 years-old and still has 5 years remaining at $7.5 million AAV. Should Guerin buy him out, he will gain almost $7 million more to his cap to play with.
NHL Buyout candidates: Andrew Ladd
The NY Islanders have $8 million in cap space, but will be using a lot of that to sign Mat Barzal. Expect GM, Lou Lamoriello to look at a buyout of 34 year-old forward, Andrew Ladd.
The savings is minimal at around $700K, but a penny saved is a penny earned. It may not be high on his Lou’s list, but Ladd has 3 years left at $5.5 million and that money could be used towards an entry level contract.
NHL Buyout candidates: Loui Eriksson
The Vancouver Canucks need some cap space and buying out 35 year-old Loui Eriksson is the answer. They currently have $14 million but have to re-sign 4 RFA’s, and they want to keep UFA’s Tyler Toffoli and Jacob Markstrom.
A buyout of Eriksson will add only $333K this season, but $2.5 million next. He has two years left on his deal at $6M AAV. It may be better to trade him at 50% retention instead.
NHL Buyout candidates: Henrik Lundqvist
When it comes to the New York Rangers, they have one player on the roster that needs to be sorted out. Henrik Lundqvist is 38 years-old and has one year left at $8.5 million. If the Rangers opt to buy him out, they will have to eat $5.5 million on the cap, but gain a crucial $3 million is space.
Currently, the Rangers will head into next season carrying $7.494 million in dead cap space thanks to Kevin Shattenkirk ($6M) and Dan Girardi ($1.1M) buyouts. They have also $300,000 in salary retention on Ryan Spooner. If they buyout Hank that will be over $12 million in dead cap. In the 2021-22 season it will drop to just $4 million.
Jeff Gorton has 4 important RFA’s to sign and a desire to improve the team as well. A buyout out Lundqvist is inevitable if he doesn’t retire first.
All cap and buyout info from CapFriendly.