On the Top Buyout Canadidates …
Luke Fox of Sportsnet: Fox looks at 13 players who teams could consider buying out this offseason.
Jared Cowen – Toronto Maple Leafs – one year, $4.5 million. Leafs would get $650,000 in cap relief this year, and a $750,000 cap hit in 2017-18.
Bryan Bickell – Chicago Blackhawks – one year, $4.5 million. They are still trying to trade him.
Kari Lehtonen – Dallas Stars – two years, $11 million – GM Jim Nill has stated they aren’t buying him out.
Andrew Ference – Edmonton Oilers – one year, $3.25 million. He only played in six games this year and an injury may not allow the Oilers to buy him out.
Dave Bolland – Florida Panthers – three years, $16.5 million. The Panthers are looking to create cap space, but injuries may prevent the Panthers from buying him out.
Dustin Brown – Los Angeles Kings – six years, $32.5 million. He lost his captaincy and his contract is nearly untradeable.
Thomas Vanek – Minnesota Wild – one year, $7.5 million – Vanek is a goal scorer, and the Wild need to score more goals. They could hope that Bruce Boudreau can get Vanek back on track.
R.J. Umberger – Philadelphia Flyers – one year, $4.5 million – he scored only two goals in 39 games last year. Has a no-movement clause and the Flyers could have some cap issues. Andrew MacDonald is also a buyout candidate.
Alex Burrows – Vancouver Canucks – one year, $3 million. The Canucks would have $2.5 million cap hit this year if they bought him out, $1 million next year.
Eric Nystrom – Nashville Predators – one year, $3 million. GM David Poile has said Nystrom won’t be back next year, so he’ll either be traded or bought out. He would have a cap hit of $500,000 this year, $1 million next year.
Fedor Tyutin – Columbus Blue Jackets – two years, $8.75 million. David Clarkson and his $5.25 million cap hit though 2019-20 is another candidate.
Dennis Wideman – Calgary Flames – one year, $6 million. Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, Joe Colborne, and Joni Ortio need new deals and they need to find a starting goalie.
Chris Higgins – Vancouver Canucks – one year, $2.5 million. GM Jim Benning has been trying to trade Higgins. Benning could use the added cap space for a UFA like Loui Eriksson or Milan Lucic.
