Top 5 players most likely to be bought out this week.

These guys are facing potential buyouts.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 3 years ago
Top 5 players most likely to be bought out this week.
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The National Hockey League is heading into an offseason where many of the league's general managers will be facing a difficult and entirely unexpected cap crunch. As a result there is an expectation that we may see quite a few more buyouts this season than we would under normal circumstances and there is certainly no shortage of candidates for those buyouts. 

General managers in the modern days of the NHL have often been prone to giving out ill-advised contracts to players they either over value or show too much loyalty towards, and that will be the case for several of the players on this list. Today we are taking a look at the players that are most likely facing a buyout when the window opens up later this week on Friday.

#1 Henrik Lundqvist.

The situation between what is unquestionably one of the greatest goaltenders in New York Rangers history and his team got pretty close to being ugly, and in fact it may have even crossed that line. Despite everything he has done for the franchise the Rangers were forced to make the tough choice of demoting Lundqvist all the way down to their #3 goaltender behind Igor Shesterkin and Alexandar Georgiev. There was no doubt about the friction it created between Lundqvist and the only NHL team he has ever played for, and you definitely get the sense that this will not be allowed to continue for another season. 

#2 Marc Andre Fleury.

Seems a bit odd that the top two players on this list are goaltenders, but they find themselves here for similar reasons. Much like Lundqvist with the Rangers, Fleury was in many ways the face of the Golden Knights franchise until Robin Lehner was suddenly thrust into the picture just prior to the NHL's trade deadline. There have been widespread reports that Lehner and the Golden Knights will be agreeing to a long term contract in the offseason, which means that Fleury will definitely be the odd man out. I don't see a world where anyone trades for Fleury when you consider his $7 million cap hit, unless the Golden Knights give up some other assets to get a team like the Arizona Coyotes or Ottawa Senators to pick up his contract, and the only other option is a buyout. Not sure the Golden Knights want to do this, but they can't afford to keep what would be $12 million+ worth of goalies.

#3 Loui Eriksson.

The Vancouver Canucks have a ton on their plate this offseason and that comes in large part to the pending free agency of players like Chris Tanev, Jacob Markstrom and Tyler Toffoli. The Canucks need to cut money somewhere and although a buyout of Eriksson would only create a negligible amount of cap room for next season, it would free up over $2.3 million for the following season at the cost of just over $600,000 against the cap in each of the two seasons that would follow. Eriksson has been, relative to his cap hit, awful for the Vancouver Canucks and has frequently been the subject of buyout or trade talk. The fact that the real dollar value of his contract comes down considerably this season does make him more tradable, and I believe that is what the Canucks would prefer, but I don't see a world in which any team would want Eriksson in his current form.

#4 James Neal.

Similar to the situation with the Vancouver Canucks, the Edmonton Oilers are heading into an important offseason with very little wiggle room. The Oilers should be looking to upgrade at nearly every position but general manager Ken Holland will have very little money to work with, especially if players like Andreas Athanasiou and Ethan Bear receive new contracts. This would be a move that would cost the Oilers in the long term, although it would provide significant savings in the short term. The Oilers would save just over $3.8 million in the first 3 years of the buyout, but would take a hit of just over $1.9 million for 3 seasons after Neal's contract would have otherwise expired. 

#5 Kyle Turris.

The writing on is on the wall for Kyle Turris in Nashville and there's very little doubt about the fact that he will be playing for a new team come next season. The reason I have Turris lower down on the list however is I can actually see a world in which he would be traded, assuming of course that the Predators retain a significant portion of his salary and perhaps even sweeten the deal beyond that. If a trade fails to materialize however I do believe the Predators will look to use a buyout and like in the case of James Neal this will be some short term gain that comes with long term pain. The Predators will save $4 million against the cap for 4 consecutive seasons, but the 4 seasons that come after will see them take an additional cap hit of $2 million per season.

Which of these players do you expect to see bought out when the window opens this Friday?

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