The Carolina Hurricanes are busy celebrating with Lord Stanley, but the rest of the NHL is focused on two of the busiest weeks of the summer - now underway with the league's buyout window scheduled to open on Wednesday.
How many buyouts will we see? The bet is not as many as we have in recent years, with seven players bought out in 2024. Teams are flush with salary cap space for the first time in a longtime so there isn't much of a pressing need. Plus, there are a handful of players that teams would like to move on from whose contract terms make a buyout unfeasible.
Nonetheless, there are situations where it does make financial sense - either on the salary cap, to the business as a whole, or sometimes in both case. Here are four candidates ranked in order of likelihood:
1. Jesperi Kotkaniemi
Center, Carolina Hurricanes
Age: 25
Stats: 42 GP, 2 G, 7 A, 9 Pts
Contract: 4 years remaining at $4.82 million AAV
Buyout: 8 years x $851K
Scoop: Kotkaniemi is a Stanley Cup champion, and his name will be engraved on Stanley's mug by virtue of playing in more than half of the regular season's games. But he was a healthy scratch for all 19 playoff games as his career has ground to a halt in Carolina. He was quality insurance depth to hold in case of injury, but no one is trading for his contract now. Luckily for the Hurricanes, Kotkaniemi is still 25, so they can enact a buyout for one-third of the value remaining spread over double the term, which will save $13 million in real cash and leave an imprint of less than a minimum salary player on the books for the next eight seasons.
2. Ondrej Palat
Left Wing, New York Islanders
Age: 35
Stats: 80 GP, 5 G, 10 A, 15 Pts
Contract: 1 year remaining at $6 million AAV
Buyout: 2 years: $2.7 million, $1.7 million
Scoop: Islanders GM Mathieu Darche took a small swing, bailing New Jersey out of Palat's contract in the hope that a reunion with the Stanley Cup winner on Long Island would rejuvenate his game. Palat scored in his first game as an Islander, but not again in his 28 games to close out the season. The temptation here with Palat, or any player entering the final year of a deal, is to just ride it out and get it off the books entirely. Darche and the Islanders aren't totally desperate for the cap space, so that might be the play. But Palat may also be clogging up a roster spot at this point, so moving on and realizing the savings spread over two years makes a lot of sense, too.
3. Pierre Engvall
Left Wing, New York Islanders
Age: 30
Stats: 68 GP, 8 G, 7 A, 15 Pts
Contract: 4 years remaining at $3 million AAV
Buyout: 8 years x $1 million
Scoop: This one seems to make both financial sense and roster sense for the Islanders. The buyout won't change much if they wait another year, and $3 million isn't onerous to keep on the cap, so it's not a definite. Each year Engvall plays out on the deal will reduce the buyout length by two. But they can present a $4 million savings in real cash to ownership, which is always appreciated, in addition to $2 million in cap savings per year for four years. Plus, their roster won't be bogged down by a player who is not a clearly defined contributor to success.
4. Kaedan Korczak
Right Defense, Vegas Golden Knights
Age: 25
Stats: 78 GP, 3 G, 13 A, 16 Pts
Contract: 4 years remaining at $3.25 million AAV
Buyout: One year at $2.5 million, then seven years at $458K
Scoop: This one is admittedly a bit of a longshot out of left field, but it's at least something to consider for Vegas under two parameters: 1) If the Golden Knights are in desperate need to shave off a million bucks next season in an effort to re-sign Pavel Dorofeyev and/or Rasmus Andersson and they don't have any other methods to do so; 2) If the Golden Knights have any doubt as to whether Korczak can be a long-term fit. Korczak struggled in the Stanley Cup playoffs, seeing time as a healthy scratch for the entirety of the Stanley Cup Final until drawing in for the elimination Game 6. The buyout isn't attractive for next season, but because he is 25, this summer represents a one-time shot to get the remaining three years of the deal bought out over the following seven years at just $458,000 - which is less than half of one minimum wage player. If the Golden Knights decided next summer that they wanted to go down the same route, it would be six years at nearly $1.1 million per year.
Also Under Consideration: J.T. Compher (Detroit); Brandon Tanev (Utah).
Buyout Proof: Darnell Nurse (Edmonton); Tristan Jarry (Edmonton); Cody Ceci (Los Angeles); Chris Tanev (Toronto).