The buyouts are coming.
The NHL’s buyout window opens on Friday, Sept. 25, and runs for two weeks until Oct. 8, the day before free agency begins. With a flat salary cap and a lot of teams feeling squeezed by the results of the pandemic – and the prospect of a fan-less season next year – this could be the league’s busiest buyout period yet.
Not every team has a buyout candidate. But most do, with more than half of the league making our list below.
Keep in mind that teams are not permitted to buy out injured players, so Ryan Kesler and others who spent a lot of time on LTIR are not listed here. And players who are on age 35-plus contracts will have their full salaries count against the cap, making their buyouts much less useful.
Not every player here is going to be bought out, but it’s worth at least having a conversation for the teams involved given the player’s performance, cap hit and their team’s cap…
Read More: Ranking the NHL’s top 22 buyout candidates as the window sets to open – The