Is It Right To Buy-Out A Player?
Following my research on the CBA and all of the clauses surrounding the Buy-Out process, which you can confuse yourself by reading here:
http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/Steven-Hindle/The-Buyout-as-per-the-CBA--For-or-Against/98/22326, I realized that with Milan Jurcina’s arbitration hearing having taken place yesterday afternoon, the Capitals are currently entering into the last available window to Buy-Out Michael Nylander’s contract for this season.
As per page 293 and the Buy-Out Schedule of the 2005 CBA(current);
August 6:
- Last Day for Issuance of Salary Arbitration Awards
48 hours after Club’s last salary arbitration award or settlement:
- Deadline for such Club’s Second Buy-Out Period(Only for Clubs with Salary Arbitration Cases)
- 293
As soon as Milan Jurcina and the Capitals receive the Arbitration verdict(which can happen at anytime up until August 6th) Washington will be eligible to Buy-Out any player they want.
The Capitals will have 48 hours to act on any possible Buy-Out as soon as the award is determined. Since the hearing took place yesterday, that would mean the verdict should come down in the 48 hours(following the hearing) while the Caps would then have another 48 hours to present a buy-out form following the award.
But should they?
The real question is do the Capitals want to Buy-Out Michael Nylander?
Nyls makes $5.5 million this season(‘09-10) and then $3 million the next(‘10-11).
For the Capitals to buy him out, they would have to use his cap number, $4.875 million x 2.
Washington would be on the hook for 2/3rds of $9.75 million dollars, spread over twice the length of the remaining contract(4 years). ( as per Paragraph 13, section D(i) & D(ii) of the SPC)
That works out to the Capitals paying $6.532,500.00 to Nylander over 4 years.
An annual hit against the cap of $1.633,125.00.
Perspective
Having recently watched the Lightning buy-out Vaclav Prospal for a tidy sum of $1.2 million a year for the next 6 years, just thinking about paying someone over $1.5 million to
not play is downright frightening.
Yes, the Capitals will actually be granted the opportunity to buy of Nyls. But it will come at a very steep price.
The reality is that buying out Nylander this summer would cost the Capitals a 3rd line player every year for the next 4 years.
It would free up some cap space though.
For example, if Nyls were bought out now, the Caps would free up $3,241,875 million(against the cap)for this season and next. That would absolutely allow the Capitals to bring in a guy like Mathieu Schneider or Sergei Zubov, or even take an inexpensive flyer on Maxim Afinigenov.
But it would also keep the Capitals from being able promote players like Chris Bourque, Oskar Osala, John Carlson or Josh Godfrey, all of whom have a strong chance at seeing ice in DC this upcoming season.
Although it is enticing to try and relieve Nylander’s cap hit by buying him out, it will not do the team any good in the long run.
Many people believe that Tampa made the right move in buying Vinny out and freeing up cap space for a possible Alex Tanguay or Petr Sykora, but I just don’t see it as a productive message to send to your troops. Tampa has had enough bad press this past season, with the ownership squabbles and the endless ‘Lecavalier to the everyone but the Yankees’ debates, they certainly did not need to create even more unease about job security for their players. How do you think Mattias Ohlund feels after seeing Prospal get bought out? I am certainly not saying that Ohlund will end up on the short end of the stick like Prospal did, but how do you think the guy feels after having signed on 7 years and than watching one of the team’s top 6 forwards promptly get bought, barely 15 months after signing his lucrative long-term deal?
The Buy-Out does not send the right message.
It is an obvious way for a GM to admit to a mistake without ever having to open his mouth and it is also an acceptable way to end a bad-fit situation(the Stars would have bought Avery out this summer had the deal to the Rangers not been possible). Yet, most of the time a buy-out occurs it helps a team’s payroll and hurts a teams chemistry. It’s not an easy part of the business and perhaps that is why it is a rare occurrence.
Hockey has many honourable men. Playing, coaching, managing, teaching and orchestrating the business that this game has become. The Buy-Out is a red-flag opportunity and can only be viewed as a plain-sight loophole.
It is a team’s right to “terminate a Standard Player Contract”, but no one wants to see that.
Would you buy a player out? If so, who would it be?
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