Some NHL teams haven't reached that next level or are stuck in rebuilds with expensive contracts. It's time to evaluate whether a buyout in the off-season will allow them to make better use of their cap space.

There's less than a month to go in the NHL’s regular season. For some teams, it's worth using this time to evaluate their players and see whether it's best for the future to buy out the contracts of veterans who haven’t lived up to their massive salaries. 

Here are five NHL players who could be in some sort of consideration to see their deals bought out before the 2024-25 season in varying degrees of likelihood (in no particular order):

Marc-Edouard Vlasic, D, San Jose Sharks

The 36-year-old Vlasic has two more seasons left on his contract after the current campaign, with an annual salary cap hit of $7 million. 

He’s well past his prime, averaging just 16:25 of ice time per game and recording 10 points in 43 games. 

If Sharks GM Mike Grier chooses to buy out Vlasic, his cap hit would drop to $3.8 million in 2024-25, rise to $4.8 million in 2025-26, and then drop to $1.3 million in each of the following two years, per PuckPedia. 

San Jose’s major roster rebuild means they have time to buy out veterans like Vlasic, and a little bit of cap pain in the next two years will be worth it after that. Vlasic doesn’t have much left in the tank, and he may latch on with a real Stanley Cup contender on a much less expensive deal than the one he’s currently on. But as it stands, he could be nearing the end of his Sharks days, and no team will trade for him at his current cap hit. A buyout is best for San Jose.

Ryan Johansen, C, Philadelphia Flyers

It’s been a tumultuous couple of seasons for 31-year-old Johansen, who bounced from the Nashville Predators to the Colorado Avalanche and then to the Philadelphia Flyers at this year's trade deadline. 

His $8-million cap hit lasts through 2024-25, which means the Flyers could buy him out over the next two seasons and have him off their books by the summer of 2026. His cap hit would plummet to $1.3 million in each of the next two years since the Predators retained half of Johansen's salary. That's a good deal for the Flyers.

Johansen would also likely latch on to a different team with a smaller role and a much smaller salary, but it doesn’t make sense for the Flyers to keep him around, even if it is only for one more season. Philadelphia GM Daniel Briere should be and likely will be moving him out, and he could be a relative bargain on a new contract.

Justin Holl, D, Detroit Red Wings

The 32-year-old Holl was one of this writer's least-favorite contract signings of last summer. The results he’s posted thus far this year have justified our suspicions about him and his three-year, $10.2-million contract with Detroit. 

It’s safe to say buyer’s remorse has already set in for the Wings and Holl. He’s been a healthy scratch numerous times and has only played 37 games for Detroit, generating just five assists in that span while averaging 15:07 of ice time per game. 

Buying him out would spread out his final two seasons over the next four years, and his $1.1-million annual cap hit in a buyout would allow Wings GM Steve Yzerman to address other needs on his roster. The Red Wings already have an abundance of veteran blueliners under contract for the foreseeable future, and Holl isn’t about to make a sudden leap in terms of his on-ice impact.

His time in Motown should end after this season, and Yzerman should chalk up the Holl experiment to a gamble that just didn’t pay off. 

John Gibson, G, Anaheim Ducks

Gibson’s name has been mentioned in trade rumors for years now. But ultimately, Ducks GM Pat Verbeek has not found a taker for Gibson and the three years he has left at an average annual cap hit of $6.4 million. 

The money isn’t all that bad for a starting goalie, but if Verbeek could’ve found a taker for Gibson, he would’ve done that by this year’s trade deadline or last summer’s off-season. Teams just don’t have the stomach for more than one or two seasons of term on just about any goalie, and Anaheim also has 23-year-old youngster Lukas Dostal as their netminder of the future.

A Gibson buyout would run through the 2029-30 season with a cap hit of $2.1 million in all six seasons. They could just keep him on the books for the next three seasons and hope his play improves, but parting with him sooner seems more palatable than keeping him around on a Ducks team that won’t be a Cup contender anytime soon. 

Gibson should find new employment relatively easily, but he’s likely had more than his fill of losing in Anaheim. For that reason, it’s high time for him and the Ducks to part ways, and a buyout makes sense for him.

Jeff Skinner, LW, Buffalo Sabres

With a whopping cap hit of $9 million for three more seasons following this one on a team that's tried desperately just to make the playoffs, Skinner’s virtually untradeable. 

A buyout for the 31-year-old would not be insignificant, as his cap hit would drop to $1.4 million next season, then rise to $4.4 million in 2025-26, move higher to $6.4 million in 2026-27, and then drop to $2.4 million for the final three seasons of the buyout. 

That’s not chump change by any means, but the Sabres could use the cap space they’d save in a Skinner buyout to add more depth at forward than they currently have. 

It’s likely Skinner would be picked up by another team on a less onerous contract after a buyout. He’s not a bad player – indeed, he’s been a 30-goal scorer in the previous two seasons, and he’s going to be in that area again this season. But Sabres GM Kevyn Adams would save considerable money on a Skinner buyout. And at this stage in his career, Skinner wouldn’t be hurt by a change of scenery. A buyout is the easiest way to get it done.