In an odd move yesterday the Arizona Coyotes decided to buy out the remaining year on centre Antoine Vermette. Vermette had one year and $3.75M left on his contract. The Coyotes will be saving $2.5M with this move, per General Fanager.
After the move was announced there were plenty of Blue Jacket fans, notably those on the CBJ facebook page wondering if the Blue Jackets should go after Vertmette, after all he did spend three and half seasons wearing the Union Blue.
To put it simply no, the Jackets should want no part of Vermette. He’s 34 years old and at this point isn’t that good of a player anymore. Sure he had 38 points last season, but that was because he played big minutes on a terrible team. Looking at his rate stats you can see he hasn’t been an effective player in either of the last two seasons.
The Jackets don’t have a spot for Vermette and even if they did they would be better off filling it with youth or another free agent. There is a reason the Coyotes bought him out and it wasn’t because they needed cap space.
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