NHL executives have typically viewed exercising an ordinary course buyout on a standard player contract as a last resort, to be considered when and only when all other possible solutions to a club’s cap problems have been exhausted.
It’s possible we could be on the verge of a paradigm shift in how buyouts are utilized this summer. Last offseason, some of the NHL teams that opted to exercise buyouts — the Winnipeg Jets with Blake Wheeler, the Nashville Predators with Matt duch*ene, the Boston Bruins with Mike Reilly and the Vancouver Canucks with Oliver Ekman-Larsson — were able to put their cap savings to good use. They went on to enjoy dream seasons.
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With that in mind in a copycat league, and with the flat cap era hopefully in the rearview mirror, it’s possible NHL teams shift their thinking on utilizing buyouts as a standard tool as opposed to a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option.
Is it worth it to permit scarce cap space to be tied up inefficiently, or to pay a significant price to offload a toxic contractual asset, solely to avoid a dead money cap hit years down the line? Or, especially with the reasonable expectation of steady cap growth in the years to come, are teams better off just taking their financial lumps, using buyouts more freely, and building their teams unencumbered by a “problem” contract?
It’s something we’ll be monitoring when the buyout window opens, which will occur 48 hours after the Stanley Cup is awarded.
We’ll also be monitoring these 12 possible buyout candidates, analyzed with the help of the salary and buyout data contained at CapFriendly.com.
Conor Sheary, Tampa Bay Lightning
| SEASON | INITIAL CAP HIT | Post-Buyout Cap Hit | SAVINGS |
|---|---|---|---|
2024-25 | $2,000,000 | $583,333 | $1,416,667 |
2025-26 | $2,000,000 | $1,083,333 | $916,667 |
2026-27 | $0 | $583,333 | -$583,333 |
2027-28 | $0 | $583,333 | -$583,333 |
TOTAL | $4,000,000 | $2,833,332 | $1,166,667 |
It’s an annual tradition at this point: The Lightning are staring at a cap crunch that will require some creative maneuvering. After re-acquiring Ryan McDonagh, Tampa Bay is projected to have less than $5.5 million in cap space with only 10 forwards and six defenders signed, including captain Steven Stamkos as a pending unrestricted free agent.
GM Julien BriseBois will need to move some money around. Conor Sheary, signed for two more years at a $2 million cap hit, stands out as a contract the Lightning should shed.
Tampa signed Sheary last summer after back-to-back seasons in Washington where he produced in the 40-point range. He flopped in his first season as a Bolt, scoring just four goals in 57 games and watching his ice time fall to just 11:06 per game. He was healthy scratched for some games down the stretch and didn’t appear in a single playoff game.
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Sheary’s long-term track record as a quality secondary scorer and his modest $2 million AAV should attract some interest on the trade market. Finding a solution that way would obviously be the ideal scenario. He does have a partial no-trade clause for 16 teams, though, so turning to the buyout route could be a sensible fallback option.
A buyout would save the Lightning just over $1.4 million for next season and $916,667 for 2025-26, with a small dead cap penalty of $583,333 for the two seasons after that.
Jack Campbell’s struggles got worse this season with the Oilers. (Derek Cain / Getty Images)
Jack Campbell, Edmonton Oilers
| SEASON | INITIAL CAP HIT | Post-Buyout CAP HIT | SAVINGS |
|---|---|---|---|
2024-25 | $5,000,000 | $1,100,000 | $3,900,000 |
2025-26 | $5,000,000 | $2,300,000 | $2,700,000 |
2026-27 | $5,000,000 | $2,600,000 | $2,400,000 |
2027-28 | $0 | $1,500,000 | -$1,500,000 |
2028-29 | $0 | $1,500,000 | -$1,500,000 |
2029-30 | $0 | $1,500,000 | -$1,500,000 |
TOTAL | $15,000,000 | $10,500,000 | $4,500,000 |
Entering the final year of Leon Draisaitl’s bargain $8.5 million AAV contract and Evan Bouchard’s $3.9 million AAV team-friendly bridge deal, there’s pressure on the Edmonton Oilers to win the Stanley Cup.
Edmonton projects to have around $10 million in cap space with only seven forwards and five defensem*n signed among their skaters. The Oilers can fill out their depth holes for ultra-cheap prices and technically stay under the cap, but they won’t be able to improve their roster without manufacturing some extra wiggle room. Edmonton has contracts it can shop on the trade market to create some relief, but buying Jack Campbell out should be one of the top considerations.
Campbell struggled enormously in his first season as an Oiler in 2022-23, posting an .888 save percentage while losing the starting job to Stuart Skinner. It only got worse this season when he was waived and demoted to the AHL after just five games.
Finding a trade partner for Campbell’s contract will be nearly impossible. The buyout option looks appealing as it would free up $3.9 million in space for next season, $2.7 million in savings for 2025-26 and $2.4 million in savings for 2026-27. There would be a modest $1.5 million dead cap penalty for three seasons after that, but the Oilers’ best contention window is now, which makes this trade-off a win.
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Cal Petersen, Philadelphia Flyers
| SEASON | INITIAL CAP HIT | Post-Buyout CAP HIT | SAVINGS |
|---|---|---|---|
2024-25 | $5,000,000 | $1,000,000 | $4,000,000 |
2025-26 | $0 | $2,000,000 | -$2,000,000 |
TOTAL | $5,000,000 | $3,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
As this list continues, you’ll begin to sense an emerging theme: Big-money goaltenders are overrepresented among the least efficient contracts in the sport.
A few years ago, Cal Petersen was one of hockey’s most promising young netminders. Last summer, however, the 29-year-old was dealt as a toxic contractual asset by the Los Angeles Kings to the Philadelphia Flyers, where he only appeared in five NHL games this past season.
With one year remaining on Petersen’s deal, and both Ivan Fedotov and Samuel Ersson on the Flyers’ books with one-way, multi-year deals, a buyout of the final year of Petersen’s deal feels like an inevitability this offseason. The math makes sense for the Flyers, who would save $4 million in salary and against the salary cap for the 2024-25 campaign at the cost of just $2 million in dead cap space for 2025-26.
Cam Atkinson, Philadelphia Flyers
| SEASON | INITIAL CAP HIT | Post-Buyout Cap Hit | SAVINGS |
|---|---|---|---|
2024-25 | $5,875,000 | $2,358,334 | $3,516,666 |
2025-26 | $0 | $1,758,334 | -$1,758,334 |
TOTAL | $5,875,000 | $4,116,668 | $1,758,333 |
The Flyers’ other buyout consideration this summer is veteran forward Cam Atkinson, one of the NHL’s most reliable volume shooters and a serious top-of-the-lineup power-play weapon in his prime.
Atkinson’s production sagged significantly after returning from a herniated disc that cost him the entire 2022-23 campaign — he went from 23 goals and 50 points in 2021-22 to 13 goals and 28 points this past season — and the math on a potential buyout is palatable for the Flyers. Philadelphia would save over $3 million in salary and against the cap if it were to buy out Atkinson’s final season at the cost of roughly $1.7 million in 2024-25.
In both Atkinson’s and Petersen’s cases, the Flyers aren’t hiding that this is a serious consideration — although GM Daniel Briere emphasized that the club had yet to make any final decisions on the matter. And the players know the score, too, with Atkinson telling The Athletic “I get it” when the subject of his future was broached following Philadelphia’s campaign.
PL Dubois, Los Angeles Kings
| SEASON | INITIAL CAP HIT | Post Buyout CAP HIT | SAVINGS |
|---|---|---|---|
2024-25 | $8,500,000 | $1,630,952 | $6,869,048 |
2025-26 | $8,500,000 | $1,530,952 | $6,969,048 |
2026-27 | $8,500,000 | $2,530,952 | $5,969,048 |
2027-28 | $8,500,000 | $3,780,952 | $4,719,048 |
2028-29 | $8,500,000 | $3,800,952 | $4,699,048 |
2029-30 | $8,500,000 | $3,820,952 | $4,679,048 |
2030-31 | $8,500,000 | $2,820,952 | $5,679,048 |
2031-32 | $0 | $1,130,952 | -$1,130,952 |
2032-33 | $0 | $1,130,952 | -$1,130,952 |
2033-34 | $0 | $1,130,952 | -$1,130,952 |
2034-35 | $0 | $1,130,952 | -$1,130,952 |
2035-36 | $0 | $1,130,952 | -$1,130,952 |
2036-37 | $0 | $1,130,952 | -$1,130,952 |
2037-38 | $0 | $1,130,952 | -$1,130,952 |
TOTAL | $59,500,000 | $27,833,328 | $31,666,667 |
The Los Angeles Kings took a big swing by adding PL Dubois to their lineup last summer, and the results were calamitous.
Dubois looked like a shell of the aggressive, physical two-way center with high-end playmaking ability we’ve seen in the past. Meanwhile, the glue guys the Kings sent to Winnipeg in the deal flourished, helping the Jets level up as a defensive unit during the regular season. Could the Kings cut the cord on this failed experiment after just one season?
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If they do, it might be an opportunistic decision more than anything else. Dubois’ situation is one of the most unique to track during the buyout window.
Dubois is 25 years old, but he’ll turn 26 on June 24. If he’s bought out before his birthdate, he can be bought out at the “one-third” buyout ratio eligible solely for players under 26. If he’s bought out after June 24, the cap math changes fundamentally from the Kings’ perspective, halving the total cap benefit of the move:
| SEASON | INITIAL CAP HIT | Post-Buyout Cap Hit | SAVINGS |
|---|---|---|---|
2024-25 | $8,500,000 | $2,761,905 | $5,738,095 |
2025-26 | $8,500,000 | $2,661,905 | $5,838,095 |
2026-27 | $8,500,000 | $3,661,905 | $4,838,095 |
2027-28 | $8,500,000 | $4,911,905 | $3,588,095 |
2028-29 | $8,500,000 | $4,931,905 | $3,568,095 |
2029-30 | $8,500,000 | $4,951,905 | $3,548,095 |
2030-31 | $8,500,000 | $3,951,905 | $4,548,095 |
2031-32 | $0 | $2,261,905 | -$2,261,905 |
2032-33 | $0 | $2,261,905 | -$2,261,905 |
2033-34 | $0 | $2,261,905 | -$2,261,905 |
2034-35 | $0 | $2,261,905 | -$2,261,905 |
2035-36 | $0 | $2,261,905 | -$2,261,905 |
2036-37 | $0 | $2,261,905 | -$2,261,905 |
2037-38 | $0 | $2,261,905 | -$2,261,905 |
TOTAL | $59,500,000 | $43,666,670 | $15,833,333 |
Kings general manager Rob Blake insisted he doesn’t intend to buy out Dubois, defiantly telling the media at locker room cleanout day that the club intended to help Dubois find his game instead. The opportunity to do so at a one-third buyout rate, however, may be too unique and too tempting for the Kings to miss.
Philipp Grubauer, Seattle Kraken
| SEASON | INITIAL CAP HIT | Post-Buyout Cap Hit | SAVINGS |
|---|---|---|---|
2024-25 | $5,900,000 | $977,778 | $4,922,222 |
2025-26 | $5,900,000 | $2,177,778 | $3,722,222 |
2026-27 | $5,900,000 | $3,277,778 | $2,622,222 |
2027-28 | $0 | $1,877,778 | -$1,877,778 |
2028-29 | $0 | $1,877,778 | -$1,877,778 |
2029-30 | $0 | $1,877,778 | -$1,877,778 |
TOTAL | $17,700,000 | $12,066,668 | $5,633,333 |
Since arriving as an expansion team in 2021-22, Seattle’s .891 team save percentage ranks 30th in the NHL. That’s not what the Kraken signed up for when they handed Philipp Grubauer, fresh off a 2021 Vezina Trophy nomination with Colorado, a six-year, $5.9 million AAV contract in free agency.
Grubauer hasn’t reached a .900 save percentage in any of his three seasons with the Kraken. Joey Daccord stole the starter’s job from him this season, notching a .916 save percentage in 50 games.
Is it time for Seattle to pull the plug and buy Grubauer out?
Looking at the Kraken’s cap sheet, they don’t have to create more financial flexibility. They possess $23.4 million in cap space, which would be enough to extend restricted free agents like Matty Beniers and Eeli Tolvanen, fill out depth holes and target one or two impactful upgrades on the trade or free-agent market. But if the Kraken are serious about bouncing back and contending for a playoff spot next season, they’d be better positioned to meaningfully upgrade the roster after a Grubauer buyout.
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Buying the 32-year-old goaltender out would open up $4.92 million of cap space for this summer. It would also provide $3.72 million of relief for 2025-26 and $2.62 million for 2026-27. The dead cap charge for the three seasons following that would be a modest $1.87 million each. It’s a tempting buyout structure driven by the fact he doesn’t have any signing bonuses.
Joonas Korpisalo, Ottawa Senators
| SEASON | INITIAL CAP HIT | Post-Buyout Cap Hit | SAVINGS |
|---|---|---|---|
2024-25 | $4,000,000 | $333,333 | $3,666,667 |
2025-26 | $4,000,000 | $833,333 | $3,166,667 |
2026-27 | $4,000,000 | $1,833,333 | $2,166,667 |
2027-28 | $4,000,000 | $2,333,333 | $1,666,667 |
2028-29 | $0 | $1,333,333 | -$1,333,333 |
2029-30 | $0 | $1,333,333 | -$1,333,333 |
2030-31 | $0 | $1,333,333 | -$1,333,333 |
2031-32 | $0 | $1,333,333 | -$1,333,333 |
TOTAL | $16,000,000 | $10,666,664 | $5,333,333 |
New Ottawa Senators general manager Steve Staios poured cold water on the notion of his club utilizing a buyout on any of his players at his season-ending media press conference a few months ago, but he left himself plenty of wiggle room to change his mind.
“I would consider anything,” Staios said. “But I don’t believe there’s any consideration for that for this group at this time.”
A couple of Senators players could be the subject of a buyout this offseason. Veteran defender Travis Hamonic — who has a $1.1 million cap hit, but that figure can’t be buried without his consent due to a no-movement clause — is one of them, although incoming Senators coach Travis Green had high regard for Hamonic’s game when he previously coached him in Vancouver.
The more pertinent consideration might be Joonas Korpisalo, who endured a miserable first season in net for the Senators, winning just 21 of his 49 starts and posting a dismal .890 save percentage.
Buying out Korpisalo this summer would save the Senators 90 percent of his 2024-25 salary-cap hit, which has to be a consideration for a listless club desperate to gain some sense of traction around a promising, young core group of players. And the math isn’t daunting over the entire term of the buyout, either.
Jacob Trouba, New York Rangers
| SEASON | INITIAL CAP HIT | Post-Buyout Cap Hit | SAVINGS |
|---|---|---|---|
2024-25 | $8,000,000 | $4,000,000 | $4,000,000 |
2025-26 | $8,000,000 | $4,000,000 | $4,000,000 |
2026-27 | $0 | $2,000,000 | -$2,000,000 |
2027-28 | $0 | $2,000,000 | -$2,000,000 |
TOTAL | $16,000,000 | $12,000,000 | $4,000,000 |
Do we think the Rangers’ front office will pull the trigger on a Jacob Trouba buyout? Truthfully, it seems like a long shot.
Trouba is the captain and brings a unique physical edge — NHL teams usually give these types of players more leash. But if the Rangers are serious about icing the best possible lineup next season to win a Stanley Cup, there’s an argument to be made that they’d be best served ripping the Band-Aid off with Trouba.
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Trouba didn’t just struggle in the playoffs, he was often a liability. He committed an endless stream of botched passes and turnovers and was often at the center of defensive breakdowns. Forget living up to his mammoth $8 million cap hit, Trouba doesn’t even look like a top-four-caliber defender anymore. On top of that, Braden Schneider looks ready for a promotion to play alongside K’Andre Miller in Trouba’s spot.
Normally, a team might take the patient approach and give a respected leader and longtime core player like Trouba another shot to bounce back. But with Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and Vincent Trocheck all on the wrong side of 30, there’s extra urgency for the Rangers to win a Cup before their window closes. New York can’t afford to waste any chances.
Finding a trade partner for Trouba would be the ideal scenario, even if it requires retaining a bit of salary. That might be complicated, though, because he has a full no-movement clause that transitions into a 15-team no-trade list as of July 1.
If a trade isn’t possible, could the Rangers consider a buyout? It’s clearly a long shot, but the math is palatable. Buying Trouba out would create $4 million of cap relief for each of the next two seasons at the expense of a $2 million dead cap charge for 2026-27 and 2027-28.
Would a Barclay Goodrow buyout make sense for the Rangers? Given the potential short-term savings, it should be a consideration. (Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images)
Barclay Goodrow, New York Rangers
| SEASON | INITIAL CAP HIT | Post-buyout Cap hit | SAVINGS |
|---|---|---|---|
2024-25 | $3,641,667 | -$247,222 | $3,888,889 |
2025-26 | $3,641,667 | $1,002,778 | $2,638,889 |
2026-27 | $3,641,667 | $3,502,778 | $138,889 |
2027-28 | $0 | $1,111,111 | -$1,111,111 |
2028-29 | $0 | $1,111,111 | -$1,111,111 |
2029-30 | $0 | $1,111,111 | -$1,111,111 |
TOTAL | $10,925,001 | $7,591,667 | $3,333,333 |
You’d think the Rangers would be loathe to consider buying out Eastern Conference final hero Barclay Goodrow.
The cap math can’t be ignored, however. If the Rangers were to buy out Goodrow’s contract this summer, they’d be adding cap space for the 2024-25 campaign above and beyond the annual average value of Goodrow’s roughly $3.6 million cap hit.
Given the short-term savings of a Goodrow buyout over the next two seasons, and how close it seems this Rangers team is to breaking through, this seems like a more pertinent consideration for Rangers hockey operations than the prospect of a Trouba buyout.
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Justin Holl, Detroit Red Wings
| SEASON | INITIAL CAP HIT | Post-buyout cap hit | SAVINGS |
|---|---|---|---|
2024-25 | $3,400,000 | $1,133,333 | $2,266,667 |
2025-26 | $3,400,000 | $1,133,333 | $2,266,667 |
2026-27 | $0 | $1,133,333 | -$1,133,333 |
2027-28 | $0 | $1,133,333 | -$1,133,333 |
TOTAL | $6,800,000 | $4,533,332 | $2,266,667 |
The Red Wings’ decision to sign Justin Holl to a three-year, $3.4 million AAV contract last summer was immediately met with raised eyebrows. It was widely viewed as a risky bet by media and fans around the league. Less than 12 months later, the move is aging even worse than expected.
Holl was a regular healthy scratch, appearing in just 38 games for the Red Wings this season. Detroit already has a glut of veteran No. 4-6 type defensem*n in Ben Chiarot, Olli Määttä and Jeff Petry locked up for next season — all of whom are ahead of Holl on the pecking order. There’s simply no need for Holl to return.
GM Steve Yzerman has nearly $30 million of cap space to play with this summer, but a significant chunk of that will be eaten up right away with Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond requiring extensions as RFAs. They also have several forward openings to fill. Given the Red Wings are looking to turn the corner on their rebuild — and nearly made the playoffs this season — they’d be best off cutting ties with Holl and allocating those cap savings elsewhere.
A Holl buyout would generate an additional $2.26 million of flexibility this summer and again for 2025-26.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau, New York Islanders
| SEASON | INITIAL CAP HIT | Post-Buyout Cap Hit | SAVINGS |
|---|---|---|---|
2024-25 | $5,000,000 | $2,250,000 | $2,750,000 |
2025-26 | $5,000,000 | $2,750,000 | $2,250,000 |
2026-27 | $0 | $1,250,000 | -$1,250,000 |
2027-28 | $0 | $1,250,000 | -$1,250,000 |
TOTAL | $10,000,000 | $7,500,000 | $2,500,000 |
This one is probably a long shot and one should never underestimate Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello’s ability to find a solution that doesn’t require him to consider the break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option.
The Islanders’ cap situation is deeply crunchy this offseason, however, and they will have to get creative in some manner if they’re going to find a route to improving their team. A buyout of Jean-Gabriel Pageau wouldn’t be a magic bullet that solves the Islanders’ cap hit — the savings are relatively modest, which is another reason a buyout is somewhat unlikely — but in combination with another move, it would certainly help create some meaningful flexibility this summer.
And without question, carving out that flexibility in some manner will be a necessary part of any successful Islanders offseason.
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Nate Schmidt, Winnipeg Jets
| SEASON | INITIAL CAP HIT | Post-buyout cap hit | SAVINGS |
|---|---|---|---|
2024-25 | $5,950,000 | $2,716,667 | $3,233,333 |
2025-26 | $0 | $1,616,667 | -$1,616,667 |
TOTAL | $5,950,000 | $4,333,334 | $1,616,667 |
With Mark Scheifele’s and Connor Hellebuyck’s elevated extensions kicking in next season, the Jets don’t have as much cap flexibility as you may think. Winnipeg has approximately $13.6 million of cap room with only one high-end top-four defenseman (Josh Morrissey) signed, no backup goalie and Cole Perfetti as an RFA.
The Jets need to rebuild their blue line and are hampered by a couple of bloated contracts including that of Nate Schmidt, who has one year left at $5.95 million. Schmidt can still provide value as a strong third-pair contributor, but that’s nowhere close to being commensurate with his cap hit.
Winnipeg would gain $3.23 million of cap space this summer by buying Schmidt out at the cost of a digestible $1.61 million penalty in 2025-26. That’s pretty favorable, especially because Wheeler’s buyout penalty will be off the books by 2025-26 when a possible Schmidt buyout would be a minor hindrance.
(Top photos of PL Dubois and Jacob Trouba: Ric Tapia / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images and Winslow Townson / Getty Images)
