The NHL's first buyout window opened today and runs through June 30. For most teams, it will be the only opportunity to buy out players until next summer. A second buyout window only opens for teams who had a player-elected salary arbitration case settled or awarded for more than $4 million, which will apply to very few teams, if any.
Does it make sense for the Penguins to buy anyone out this summer? Not really. They just aren't going to be up against the cap enough for it to matter. And if you're trying to buy out a player with term, it's going to cost you for a long time. Buyouts are paid out over twice the length of the remaining years left on the contract.
The player it seems most fans ask about potentially buying out is Ryan Graves, and it just doesn't make any sense. He has three years remaining on his contract, so a buyout would be paid out over the next six years. The structure of his contract also doesn't really do you much good -- he has a $4.5 million cap it and $2 million of that annually comes from signing bonuses, which get paid out regardless. So, in a hypothetical Graves buyout would have the following costs, using PuckPedia's buyout calculator:
That's a savings of just over $1 million for two years and just shy of one million for the third year, which is almost exactly what the savings would be from just burying him in the AHL if it's the worst case scenario and he can't crack the NHL roster. It's not happening.
Beyond that, the Penguins really don't have any tough contracts. Sam Girard certainly didn't look like a $5 million player in his stint with the Penguins after the trade last season, and he's set to make that for one more year, too. But was he bad enough to buy him out? Not really. He's also only 28 years old, and it would make sense if the staff wants to see what he can do with a full training camp. Given how much cap space the Penguins are set to have, there's little harm in giving Girard that chance.
Kyle Dubas notoriously hates buyouts. Even if the Penguins had a reasonable candidate, he'd much prefer to shed that salary some other way, like a trade with retention. But they just aren't in a situation where they have too many bad contracts, or that cap space is at such a premium that they'd take those long-term penalties to open up space next season.
THE ASYLUM
Do Penguins have buyout candidates?
The NHL's first buyout window opened today and runs through June 30. For most teams, it will be the only opportunity to buy out players until next summer. A second buyout window only opens for teams who had a player-elected salary arbitration case settled or awarded for more than $4 million, which will apply to very few teams, if any.
Does it make sense for the Penguins to buy anyone out this summer? Not really. They just aren't going to be up against the cap enough for it to matter. And if you're trying to buy out a player with term, it's going to cost you for a long time. Buyouts are paid out over twice the length of the remaining years left on the contract.
The player it seems most fans ask about potentially buying out is Ryan Graves, and it just doesn't make any sense. He has three years remaining on his contract, so a buyout would be paid out over the next six years. The structure of his contract also doesn't really do you much good -- he has a $4.5 million cap it and $2 million of that annually comes from signing bonuses, which get paid out regardless. So, in a hypothetical Graves buyout would have the following costs, using PuckPedia's buyout calculator:
2026-27: $3.31M
2027-28: $3.31M
2028-29: $3.56M
2029-30: $556K
2030-31: $556K
2031-32: $556K
That's a savings of just over $1 million for two years and just shy of one million for the third year, which is almost exactly what the savings would be from just burying him in the AHL if it's the worst case scenario and he can't crack the NHL roster. It's not happening.
Beyond that, the Penguins really don't have any tough contracts. Sam Girard certainly didn't look like a $5 million player in his stint with the Penguins after the trade last season, and he's set to make that for one more year, too. But was he bad enough to buy him out? Not really. He's also only 28 years old, and it would make sense if the staff wants to see what he can do with a full training camp. Given how much cap space the Penguins are set to have, there's little harm in giving Girard that chance.
Kyle Dubas notoriously hates buyouts. Even if the Penguins had a reasonable candidate, he'd much prefer to shed that salary some other way, like a trade with retention. But they just aren't in a situation where they have too many bad contracts, or that cap space is at such a premium that they'd take those long-term penalties to open up space next season.
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