As the NHL buyout window opens this week, we look back at four occasions when the Senators used it to their advantage.
The NHL buyout window is now officially open and runs until June 30 at 5 p.m.
Teams looking to free up salary cap space can use this period to terminate a player's contract early, paying out a portion of the remaining salary while spreading the cap hit over a longer period.
It's usually the last refuge for teams that can't find a buyer for a player they really want to move on from. Whether it's level of playing ability, poor behaviour, or an inappropriately expensive contract (or maybe all three), other NHL teams don't want to take on the player's contract either.
The Senators have had four such players.
2008: Ray Emery
One year after backstopping the Senators to their only Stanley Cup Final appearance, Emery was bought out following a poor ensuing season that was also filled with disciplinary issues. In a nutshell, for Emery, hockey seemed to have taken a backseat to having fun. Before the buyout, Emery was still owed $6.75 million over the next two seasons.
When he became a UFA, his phone didn't ring, so he spent one season in the KHL before returning to play for the Philadelphia Flyers in 2009-10.
2020: Bobby Ryan
Ryan came over from Anaheim in the deal to (unofficially) make fans forget that the organization had irritated Daniel Alfredsson enough to leave and sign as a UFA with Detroit. In 2014, the Sens signed Ryan to a seven-year, $50.25 million extension worth $7.25 million per season, a deal he never quite lived up to.
In Nov. 2019, he entered the NHL/NHL Players' Assistance program, and upon his return three months later, he had a pretty special first game back.
In Sept. of that season, the Senators bought Ryan out with two years remaining on a seven-year contract. He had just won the Masterton Trophy and finished his Sens career on a high note.
After 33 games with the Red Wings the following year, Ryan's NHL days were over.
2022: Colin White
The buyout saved the Senators $3.875 million in cap space, mitigating the cost of the last two years of his six-year, $28.5 million contract. The White buyout is still on the books as the Sens pull along an $870,000 cap hit for each of the next two seasons.
White played full-time in Florida the following season, but after a few seasons of part-time NHL work, he now seems to be settling in as a full-time AHL player.
2022: Michael Del Zotto
Bought out in July 2022 with one year remaining on his contract. Del Zotto's buyout saved the Senators $1.5 million in cap room. He played one more hockey season in the AHL before retiring.
A couple of years later, on a podcast, Del Zotto let the Senators' former ownership and management have it with both barrels.
“I couldn’t believe that that was an NHL organization when I was there," Del Zotto told Daily Faceoff in 2024. "Just from top to bottom, how the players were treated, how the staff was treated.”
Hell hath no fury like a D-man scorned.
By Steve Warne
The Hockey News
