Dear god, please no free buyouts. Punish the GMs who make bad decisions.
- goavsgo10

Everybody is talking about bad decisions. That's not why there will be a buyout. Nobody could've predicted this to happen. Players were signed to new contracts and teams used the current cap as the benchmark. What good GM wouldn't take the projected cap rise into consideration to try and improve his team?

Blackhawks - Seabrook in a heartbeat

Lots of young teams sign big UFAs. Rangers just did before ever even making the playoffs and no one think sit's an issue.
- RogerRoeper

I’ll take Panarin over Tavares. Just my preference.

Keith over Seabrook? LOL you have to be kidding me. Keith actually was pretty good this year. he is probably a 2nd paring guy now. and might be 3rd paring by the end. Seabs is probably a 3rd paring 7th D now coming off 3 surgeries and is getting worse every year. and makes 1.5 more then Keith.

the analytics guy rated it the worst contract in the NHL with a 99% chance he would underperform his contract. if we could get out of that contract that would be a god send!!
- kmw4631

I, too, would choose Seabs over Keith simply because its 6.8M vs 5.3M (or something close to that). Although I don't think Keith is nearly as good as a lot of people think, he would at least have some trade value whereas Seabs is untradeable. I wish #7 had something left in the tank cause he's a way smarter player than #2. Seabs also looked better than Keith the second half of the 18-19 season (yeah, I know, thats forever ago). Both have full NTCs, so trading either would be very tough. That said, 3 years of no playoffs might prompt #2 to waive his NTC for the right team. Perfect scenario would be to use this buy out on #7 and trade #2.

Alzner ...

I have to start by saying this is a bad idea because it rewards stupid GMs with deep-pocketed owners.

HOWEVER,
If the NHL really wants to implement this then they should do it in the following way:

Each team picks one player to buy-out.

Particulars to this process:
1. Starting prior to this process (and to all buy-outs going forward), any player who is bought out can only be given a 1 year contract at league minimum. This will encourage players to play harder to keep their paycheque.

2. For special stupidity buyouts league-wide - all players that are bought out go into a waiver type situation.
Any team that chooses to opt out of this buy-out option because they’ve been smart with their contracts get first dibs on the players bought out by all other teams to be signed at the league minimum. So if 5 teams opt out of this process they go into a lottery situation to find out their picking order. Players selected MUST go to the team that selected them. After those 5 make their selections, the rest of the league can try to sign the remainders.

This will mean that if you signed a massive deal with the Rangers and play like crap, you may end up in Anaheim next year, should one of these buy-outs come about. Bottom line, players become more accountable and teams who were smart get first dibs at what’s most likely a good player who just isn’t worth his current deal. Most teams in the league would take JVR, Parise etc on a league min deal.

Thoughts? And if you’re just going to tear the idea apart, present one that is equally thought-out for everyone to ponder.
- Djmbrown

Are you aware there is a player's union?

Are you aware there is a player's union?
- Hunkulese

Are you aware of the regular waivers situation?

Are you aware of the regular waivers situation?
- Djmbrown

Not a comparable situation.

Are you aware of the regular waivers situation?
- Djmbrown

The waiver situation benefits the players.

In your scenario, the player would lose their guaranteed contract, probably not got get the full amount of their contract, and not be involved in the decision about how their career would continue.

Buyouts were already something that was heavily negotiated, and the players already hate them. There's zero chance the NHLPA would ever agree to anything that's worse for the player.

Loui's been so bad. Why waste all this money on ufa's giving them guaranteed contract money up front with full no movement clauses? It's wiser to trade for key players with 2 years left on their deals so they can play hungry chasing that next contract. And put the rest into scouting.

I’ll take Panarin over Tavares. Just my preference.
- Nighthawk

I'll take the centre.

Leafs have only 16 players signed next year and already 77 mil against the cap. Even if the cap goes up to 85 (which was what was projected BEFORE this COVID poop) that leaves them only 8 mil to sign like 6 guys and somehow fix the holes on D.

Like I said......good luck, you guys are clearly in great shape. A fringe playoff team, with a few holes to fill, and almost zero cap space to fill it.
- sensarmy_11

The holes on D is fixed. They can be healthy

Sharks:
It would need to be at D

Vlasic: Solid Defensive Dman (6yrs @ 7M) Age 33
Burns: PP specialist ,Weak Defensive (5yrs@ 8M) Age 35
Karlsson Passing ability, Injuries (7yrs@ 11.5M) Age 29

My Pick :
Burns , With his age at 35 already , I just don't see him keeping those numbers
for another 5 years . and he is already weak on Defense .
- Sharksfan68

I gotta pick Karlson. Sure he is younger but the guy keeps getting hurt. For tre 11.5M a year he isn't worth it. Burns is a close second but the 4.5M more Karlson is taking we could pickup a good Dman to fill in what Burns is missing.

RUMOR: Covid-19 can infect and kill one contract on every team.

y'all ate the bait.

Zach Parise... Fun player to watch, plays with a lot of heart, but can't produce enough to justify his 7.5 cap hit a year.

I was literally coming here to post this and you beat me to it.
- Za Warudo

Every Penguins fan was coming here to say JJ.

Has to be Jack Johnson. I get the argument for Hornqvist, but the underlying numbers suggest JJ is more detrimental to his team than Patric is at this point. Anyone JJ plays with has their advance stats numbers go down in a big way.

I'm hoping it's 2. Abdelkader and Nielsen. Nielsen is old and washed up. Abdelkader has zero pride and steals money from the Red Wings each time he plays. If it's just 1, buyout Nielsen and let Abdelkader ride the bus in Grand Rapids for 3 more years.
- gergeswillems

for Abdelkader to go...

I wouldn't mind the Wings taking a shot with Jake Allen. He's probably as good or better than Bernier and would help solidify the position at least until the Wings are a legitimate playoff team. Nobody in the Wings farm system is ready to step in at this point in goal. Yzerman isn't resigning Howard.
- Vladdie_Kon1

Having watched Allen for years, he's prone to lapses in concentration that lead to soft, backbreaking goals. He definitely needs another strong goalie to push him, as we've seen with the Allen / Brian Elliott, Allen / Carter Hutton, and currently Allen / Binnington tandems. He's struggled (at best) or cratered (at worst) when one of those other guys is out. He'll get another NHL job after this contract, but the pro scouts of the contenders probably wouldn't touch him.

IMO if there's only one buyout Abdelkader is the obvious choice over Nielsen:

- He's the worse player
- He's under contract longer

The extra $1 million Nielsen counts against the cap is irrelevant because Detroit is unlikely to need it anyway over the next two seasons.
- Sven22

I agree it has to be Abdelkader when he is out on the ice you don't even notice that he's out there at least with Nielsen he gives it all he has and his cap hit isn't bad.

LOL ... nice one ... all ELCs are three years

Having watched Allen for years, he's prone to lapses in concentration that lead to soft, backbreaking goals. He definitely needs another strong goalie to push him, as we've seen with the Allen / Brian Elliott, Allen / Carter Hutton, and currently Allen / Binnington tandems. He's struggled (at best) or cratered (at worst) when one of those other guys is out. He'll get another NHL job after this contract, but the pro scouts of the contenders probably wouldn't touch him.
- bckash

He sounds like Jimmy Howard. Allen can't be that bad.

Skinner can get back to 35-40 goals a year if playing with a real center (Eichel). Basically Ralph's fault this season that Skinner's #"s are low. There is hope, should Skinner get to play with Eichel - and if we ever see another NHL game.

Okposo ? Horrible contract with no production (or hope of any) and still many years left.

It's easy : Buyout Okposo over Skinner.
- kritter65

Skinner is producing at a lesser rate than Okposo.

Discuss.

Skinner is getting paid 9 Mil. He needs to produce on his own at times. He doesn't. He is a 6 mil winger getting paid 9 Mil.

Okposo plays defense, Skinner does not.

Whens the last time you saw Skinner battling in the corner the way Okposo does?

Skinner has a top 20 contract in terms of cap hit. He is in the 300+ in terms of points. Completely unacceptable.

The holes on D is fixed. They can be healthy
- RogerRoeper

how exactly are they fixed again. They’re going to lose Barrie for nothing, and will rely on 2 unproven rookies to fill out their top six. Not what “contenders” should be doing.

Your team is, at best, a fringe playoff team and the cap issues they have are likely to mean they won’t be any better than that. I know you’ll never admit that, which is great because it’s that much funnier to see you squirm every time this team fails hilariously.

Everybody is talking about bad decisions. That's not why there will be a buyout. Nobody could've predicted this to happen. Players were signed to new contracts and teams used the current cap as the benchmark. What good GM wouldn't take the projected cap rise into consideration to try and improve his team?
- MJL

There are a number of horrible contracts that were given out that were horrible and regrettable long before the pandemic.