Discover the financial stakes of the offseason as teams navigate salary cap penalties and long-term dead money to shed underperforming contracts before the June 30 deadline.
The NHL season has officially come to an end, with the Carolina Hurricanes winning the Stanley Cup on Sunday night.
With that, the first official event of the offseason gets underway roughly 48 hours after the final, the opening of the NHL's Buyout window.
The window officially opens late on Tuesday night, but nothing will occur until Wednesday at the earliest, with teams having until June 30 to use this cap-clearing route.
So, first, what is a buyout?
From PuckPedia: "A buyout is a mechanism that allows a team to end a player’s contract early by paying a portion of the remaining value over a period that is twice as long as the remaining term on the original contract, with a specific amount still counting against the salary cap each season."
That's a long-winded explanation. Essentially, when a team decides a player is no longer worth their cap hit and wants to free up space in the short term, a buyout works.
However, it doubles the remaining contract term, adding a cap surcharge (commonly referred to as a cap penalty) for each season the buyout lasts.
For example, when the New York Islanders used a buyout of Rick DiPietro's 15-year contract just 7 seasons into it, the remaining 8 seasons turned into 16 years of cap hit.
Due to a special, now non-existent rule called the Compliance Buyouts, which were introduced to help teams become compliant with the new Salary Cap following the 2012-13 lockout, DiPietro's cap hit did not count against the cap.
However, the Islanders continue to pay DiPietro $1.5 million every year, and that will continue until 2029, 16 years after the initial buyout.
So, for everyone who wants to buy out Scott Mayfield or Pierre Engvall, if the Islanders were to do so, it would mean there'd be an annual cap hit of over $1 million (Engvall $1 million, Mayfield $1.167 million) to either player through the 2034 season.
That's an incredibly long time for two still-cheap contracts. Engvall holds a 16-team no-trade clause, so he could be dealt this summer if there are any interested teams and the Islanders want to shed his salary.
In one year's time, Mayfield's contract drops in protection from a full no-trade clause to a 16-team no-trade clause, making a trade much easier if the Islanders need to clear his cap hit.
The other common name brought up for the Islanders, and a potential buyout, is Ondrej Palat, with a final year and a $6 million cap hit.
If the Islanders bought out Palat, they would initially save $3.3 million while incurring a dead cap hit of $2.7 million this season, with an additional $1.65 million penalty against the cap for 2027-28.
Most teams have very little interest in incurring a dead cap hit for extended periods, especially when there are better ways to free up salary in the short or medium term.
If the Islanders are looking to clear $3.3 million, it's widely expected that Anthony Duclair will be dealt this summer, clearing his $3.75 million from the books for the next two seasons.
Engvall, as mentioned above, could be traded as well to clear his cap hit.
While most idealize a buyout, the practicality of doing so often makes less sense than finding other ways to shed the money in full.