Two NHL players headed for a buyout on Sunday.

Teams around the National Hockey League are currently within one of the periods of time in the year when they are eligible to buy players out of their current contracts, and on Sunday we received news that two such players would have their contracts bought out.

NHL insider Chris Johnston reports that both Joe Veleno and Conor Sheary have been placed on waivers today, with both players destined for a buyout should they clear waivers. It seems extremely unlikely that either player will be claimed, given that teams would much prefer to trade these players than to buy them out.

Veleno is currently under contract with the Seattle Kraken after the Kraken acquired him in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks earlier this month. It is unclear if the plan was always for the Kraken to buy out Veleno from the moment they acquired him, but today's move would suggest that this was indeed the case. The Kraken will take on a penalty of $796,000 in year 1 and $296,000 in year 2 for Veleno, but unloaded the contract of Andre Burakovsky in the trade with Chicago which has a cap hit of $5.5 million in each of the next two seasons.

This represents a significant cap savings in both years for the Kraken.

Veleno, a former first round pick (30th overall) of the Detroit Red Wings at the 2018 NHL Entry Draft has never been able to find a regular role for himself at the NHL level. Even in the two full seasons he played with the Red Wings it was clear there was never a true fit, and he now appears to have a reached a low point in his NHL career.

Sheary on the other hand is coming off of a difficult situation in which he appeared in just 5 NHL games last season with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning were unable to place Sheary on their roster due to cap constraints for the majority of the season, so I can see why they would move to buy him out of his contract under those circumstances.

Update: NHL insider Elliotte Friedman is disputing the claim that Sheary will be bought out, reporting instead that it is Sheary who requested his contract be terminated. This would fall under "mutual termination" and therefore would not result in a buyout. That being said, Sheary's time in Tampa Bay will come to an end one way or the other.