Photo: Yahoo! Sports
With the 2024 Stanley Cup Final set to end on Monday night, NHL teams will quickly ramp up transactions as the draft approaches this weekend and the free agent market a week after Game 7 between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers at 12 PM ET. Teams will aim to create space under the NHL salary cap by buying out contracts and the window for doing so opens at 2 PM ET on Tuesday and close at the same time on Sunday. NoVa Caps looks at the most likely buyout candidates league-wide:
NOTE: Teams currently in a rebuild will not likely want dead salary cap space down the road and such teams will not be included even though they may have players on albatross contracts. There were also some contracts that may look bad but the buyout penalties did not make it make sense to buy some them out.
- G Jack Campbell, Edmonton (three years x $5 million, 10-team NTC)
After going 21-9-4 with an .888 save percentage, 3.41 goals-against average, a shutout, and -14.29 five-on-five expected goals-saved above average in his debut season in Edmonton where he lost the starting job to Stuart Skinner, Campbell lasted just five games this year before clearing waivers and never getting recalled. He earned a .918 save percentage and 2.63 goals-against average in 33 AHL games and will almost certainly see his contract get bought out this week. You can find the buyout cost below:
Screenshots: CapFriendly
- D Jamie Oleksiak, Seattle Kraken (two x $4.6 million, 16-team NTC)
While averaging 19:39 per game (third among Kraken defensemen), including a team-leading 2:58 on the penalty kill, the 31-year-old tallied two goals, 15 points, a -2 rating, .485 five-on-five Corsi-for percentage, .4994 five-on-five expected goals-for percentage, and .4905 five-on-five scoring chances-for percentage in 82 games. The cost of buying out the final two years of this contract for Seattle, who would save nearly $4 million in cap space this season by executing such a move, follows:
- G Philipp Grubauer, Seattle (three x $5.9 million, 10-team NTC)
The 32-year-old went 14-16-2 with an .899 save percentage (the best he has recorded during his three seasons in the Pacific Northwest), 2.85 goals-against average (tied for the best), two shutouts, and a -5.14 five-on-five goals-saved above average in 36 games. He also lost the starter’s crease to Joey Daccord. The following sheet displays the cost it would be to buy out the remainder of Grubauer’s contract, which would see Seattle save a lot of money over the next three seasons and spend less than $2 million in dead salary for another three.
- LW Ilya Mikheyev, Vancouver Canucks (two x $4.75 million, 12-team NTC)
Vancouver is reportedly looking to move the 29-year-old, who notched 11 goals and 31 points in 78 regular-season games and was held scoreless in 11 postseason outings, but it will cost them a sweetener. Mikheyev was limited to just 46 games in 2022-23, tallying 13 goals and 28 points. The cost of buying out his contract, which is pretty small with reasonable savings for two seasons, can be found below:
- D Nate Schmidt, Winnipeg Jets (one x $5.95 million, 10-team NTC)
While averaging 16:49 per game (fifth among Jets blueliners), including 1:32 on the power play (third) and 45 seconds on the penalty kill (tied for sixth), the 32-year-old posted two goals, 14 points, a +10 rating, .5263 five-on-five Corsi-for percentage, .5517 five-on-five expected goals-for percentage, and .5376 five-on-five scoring chances-for percentage in 63 regular-season games but also served as a healthy scratch. Schmidt notched a goal, -5 rating, and .5111 five-on-five expected goals-for percentage in Winnipeg’s five-game first round exit to the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. His buy out would look like the following:
- C Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Carolina Hurricanes (six x $4.82 million, 10-team NTC kicks in in 2025-26)
Because Kotkaniemi (23) is under 26, buying out his contract would give Carolina (or any other team) a salary cap credit and would save them around $4 million on the cap for the rest of the deal’s duration. Kotkaniemi, who has never hit the 20-goal or 45-point mark in his six-season NHL career, scored just 12 goals and 27 points in 79 regular-season games and was limited to only one assist in 11 postseason outings. Buying out the rest of Kotkaniemi’s deal would result in some huge savings for a few seasons for Carolina and marginal penalties:
- G Jean-Gabriel Pageau, New York Islanders (two x $5 million, 16-team NTC)
The 31-year-old recorded just 11 goals and 33 points in 82 regular-season contests before earning a goal and an assist in four postseason games. Pageau has been held to 40 points or fewer in all four of his full seasons on the Island and finished with fewer than 20 in every one, including 15 in three of them. A buy out of Pageau’s deal would look like this:
- LW Jeff Skinner, Buffalo Sabres (three x $9 million, NMC)
Buffalo is reportedly considering buying out the rest of the 32-year-old’s deal after Skinner’s production fell to just 24 goals and 46 points in 74 games this past season. Though, he scored 33 and 35 goals, respectively, in each of the previous two and finished the 2022-23 campaign with 82 points in 79 games. Buffalo would save a lot of money against the salary cap next season and the following if they buy the rest of this contract out:
- D Ben Chiarot, Detroit Red Wings (two x $4.75 million, 10-team NTC)
While averaging 19:47 per game (second among Red Wings defensemen), including 1:59 while shorthanded (third), the 33-year-old notched five goals, 20 points, a -4 rating, .4356 five-on-five Corsi-for percentage, .4536 five-on-five expected goals-for percentage, and .4258 five-on-five scoring chances-for percentage in 77 games. Detroit would receive nearly $3 million in cap relief while the cost of buying Chiarot’s contract out would not be significant against their salary cap.
- D Justin Holl, Detroit (two x $3.4 million, 10-team NTC)
The 32-year-old posted five assists, a +8 rating, .4553 five-on-five Corsi-for percentage, .4381 five-on-five expected goals-for percentage, and .4487 five-on-five scoring chances-for percentage in only 38 games, where he averaged 15:05 per game (last among Detroit defensemen), including 1:01 on the penalty kill (sixth). Buying out the rest of Holl’s contract would save over $2 million in each of the next two seasons while the penalty would not carry much of a hit at all.
- G Joonas Korpisalo, Ottawa Senators (four x $4 million)
The 30-year-old had an abysmal first season in the Canadian capital, going 21-26-4 with an .890 save percentage, 3.27 goals-against average, and a -10.73 five-on-five goals-saved above average (second-worst among goaltenders to play in at least 50 games) in 55. Ottawa would save over $3 million in cap space and the buyout would make just a small dent on their salary cap for three years. They would also still save around $2 million for a couple more seasons before the team would lose money, which would not be much.
With the buyout period set to open in a couple days, a few teams have some big decisions to make as they try to gain some flexibility for their plans at the draft and free agency in the upcoming week. There are a few instances in which a buy out does not make sense (such Edmonton defenseman Darnell Nurse and Dallas Stars center Tyler Seguin) due to the large amount in dead salary teams would have to endure for years. Get ready, hockey fans — it should be a very exciting week!
By Harrison Brown
