{"id":605821,"date":"2026-04-15T14:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T14:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/605821\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T14:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T14:15:08","slug":"assessing-this-summers-buyout-candidates-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/605821\/","title":{"rendered":"Assessing This Summer\u2019s Buyout Candidates \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every summer, several NHL teams issue buyouts to veteran players who have significantly underperformed on their often high-priced contracts. It is usually difficult for a team to admit this mistake and make such a move, as it often reflects poorly on management\u2019s initial decision to acquire the player. As Kyle Dubas once said<\/a>, \u201cbuyouts are a last resort.\u201d<\/p>\n

There will undoubtedly be some this year, though, and it\u2019s probably not who you would expect to see be bought out. Most fans might expect Darnell Nurse<\/a>, Jonathan Huberdeau<\/a>, Tristan Jarry<\/a>, Elias Pettersson<\/a>, or even Ryan Graves<\/a> among the buyout candidates. However, those five players all have contracts with large signing bonuses, making their buyout prospects slim. Still, several underperforming players on big contracts could find themselves in the buyout discussion.<\/p>\n

The first player has become a lightning rod for criticism within the Toronto Maple Leafs. No, it isn\u2019t Auston Matthews<\/a>; it\u2019s defenseman Morgan Rielly<\/a>. The 32-year-old Rielly was once a top offensive defenseman, but he\u2019s never been particularly strong defensively.<\/p>\n

Now his offensive game has declined, exposing many of his defensive flaws even more. When Rielly led Toronto\u2019s transition game, you could accept everything he sacrificed defensively as the cost of his offensive contributions, but without elite offense, he\u2019s a middle-tier offensive defenseman who struggles in his own zone.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You could argue that Rielly\u2019s defensive struggles are mainly due to being on a poor defensive team, but the truth is that he wasn\u2019t strong defensively even when the Maple Leafs had a solid possession numbers. Still, is it worth buying him out? Probably not. Rielly currently earns $7.5MM a year<\/a> and has four years left on his contract. Despite the cost, he might be worth keeping or trading.<\/p>\n

A Rielly buyout<\/a> would have Toronto paying him $3.5MM per season for the next four years, followed by $2MM annually for the subsequent four years. Sure, the cost savings over the next four years would be $4MM annually, but then the team needs to find a top four defender to replace Rielly, and the Maple Leafs likely won\u2019t find one for less than the savings amount. A trade would be the best option for Toronto, but Rielly still has the leverage for the next two years with a full no-movement clause, which could complicate any potential trade.<\/p>\n

Sliding east of Toronto, the Canadiens have a potential buyout candidate in veteran forward Brendan Gallagher<\/a>. Including the 33-year-old on this list will upset some, but his decline since 2021 has been well-documented.<\/p>\n

Prior to 2021, Gallagher was one of the most consistently effective 5-on-5 scorers in the NHL. However, Father Time is undefeated, and Gallagher is no longer a top-nine forward, even though he still earns like one. With just six goals and 16 assists in 76 games this season, he has been a healthy scratch<\/a> for Montreal this week, which could be a sign of what\u2019s to come. Montreal boasts a strong group of forwards, with more young prospects on the way, and it could become a numbers game that Gallagher loses.<\/p>\n

The other side of the argument with Gallagher is that he has only one year left on his contract, with a cap hit of $6.5MM<\/a>, but he is owed just $4MM in actual salary. It\u2019s possible he could be traded to a team trying to reach the salary cap floor or swapped for another problematic contract. If Montreal considers a buyout<\/a>, it would save them $2.67MM next season but add a $1.33MM cap charge in 2027-28.<\/p>\n

Since Montreal has most of its core signed and over $12MM in cap space available this summer, it has no immediate need to part ways with Gallagher unless it plans a major move. There\u2019s also a potential morale issue if the Canadiens decide to release a popular veteran who has given everything to the organization, the fans, and the city.<\/p>\n

Staying in Canada shifted the focus westward. Oilers forward Trent Frederic<\/a> and his contract sent shockwaves through the NHL just 12 months ago when it was signed. Many pundits were left scratching their heads when the Oilers inked Frederic<\/a> to an eight-year, $30.8MM contract extension just days before free agency opened.<\/p>\n

The $3.85MM cap hit was a bit high for many people\u2019s tastes, but not outrageous, given that Frederic was a pending UFA. However, the length of the deal seemed excessive for a role player, especially one who wasn\u2019t very effective last season.<\/p>\n

This year, Frederic has four goals and three assists in 70 games. That\u2019s poor offensive production for anyone, let alone a player earning nearly $4MM annually. Some of this can be attributed to an unusually low shooting percentage of 5.7%, about half of his typical success rate. If he regresses to the mean next season, he should score more goals, but it\u2019s not just his offensive numbers this season that are concerning.<\/p>\n

Aside from one season when he tallied 40 points, Frederic has never been a significant offensive contributor or a player who drives or controls the pace of play, making the eight-year contract a particularly poor decision.<\/p>\n

There is just a lot wrong with Frederic\u2019s game, and in an era where making mistakes on mid-tier contracts can be disastrous due to the parity in the NHL, this one is particularly bad. That said, Edmonton would have to absorb a 14-year cap hit if it bought out the 28-year-old, which means he\u2019s probably staying beyond this season.<\/p>\n

Finally, we come to the most obvious candidate: Jesperi Kotkaniemi<\/a>, who is somehow still just 25 years old. When the Hurricanes sent an offer sheet<\/a> to Kotkaniemi back in August 2021, they were betting on his potential to become a top-six center.<\/p>\n

After all, Kotkaniemi was a third overall pick in 2018 and had the skill set to elevate his game and move up the lineup. However, the offer sheet was very ill-advised, with the idea reportedly coming from Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon in response to the Montreal Canadiens\u2019 offer sheeting Sebastian Aho<\/a> two years prior.<\/p>\n

Kotkaniemi never really developed an offensive side to his game, and at this stage of his career, he is what he is \u2013 a reasonably good defensive center who doesn\u2019t score much. This year, Kotkaniemi has two goals and seven assists in 38 games. Although he put up 43 points a few years ago, it doesn\u2019t seem likely that he\u2019ll become a consistent 40-point player. At $4.82MM a year for four more seasons, the Hurricanes have an opportunity to save some serious cash by buying him out.<\/p>\n

Due to his age, Carolina could buy out Kotkaniemi<\/a> this summer for just 33% of the remaining money on his deal, which is about $6.8MM. That would save Carolina almost $4MM next season, and $4.35MM in each of the three years after that.<\/p>\n

Now, the Hurricanes are usually not a cap team, but they have only $14MM available this summer (as per PuckPedia<\/a>) and four players to sign. If they want to add to the lineup and improve their chances in the quest for the Stanley Cup, this could be a way to create some much-needed breathing room under the salary cap.<\/p>\n

Photo by Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every summer, several NHL teams issue buyouts to veteran players who have significantly underperformed on their often high-priced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[34741,49,48,748,453,32415,743,48555,448,2368,82,746,123613],"class_list":{"0":"post-605821","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-brendan-gallagher","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-carolina-hurricanes","12":"tag-edmonton-oilers","13":"tag-jesperi-kotkaniemi","14":"tag-montreal-canadiens","15":"tag-morgan-rielly","16":"tag-nhl","17":"tag-pro-hockey-rumors-originals","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs","20":"tag-trent-frederic"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}