Penguins Likely To Avoid Buyouts
If the Pittsburgh Penguins want to make changes, it won't be through buyouts.
PITTSBURGH – For the second straight summer, the Pittsburgh Penguins are expected to have another offseason full of change. While quite a few lineup changes are being discussed and pondered, how the Penguins go about them might be pretty straightforward.
It’s rare that the Penguins as an organization utilize buyouts on their player’s contracts. President and general manager Kyle Dubas has also previously stated his unwillingness to buy players out.
While the Penguins have a few buyout candidates, it’s unlikely that will be their fate. Dubas would much rather find a way to make a trade than fill up salary cap space on a player not in the organization.
It might make sense for some players, like Noel Acciari or Lars Eller, but the Penguins like what they can bring. Other names like Reilly Smith or Rickard Rakell also make sense; they struggled in 2023-24 and are making a ton of money against the cap.
However, a buyout is improbable with those two, thanks to what the calculations would look like.
Reilly Smith
Smith is entering the final year of his contract, but the cap hit on a buyout would last for two seasons and cost more than the Penguins would like to spend. For the first year, a Smith buyout would cost $2.333 million against the cap. It goes down in year two, but only by $1 million.
The Penguins need every dime possible in the next few seasons to build a team that can return to the postseason and vie for a Stanley Cup. Spending that kind of dollar amount for Smith not to be on the roster makes no sense.
Rickard Rakell
Rakell has four years remaining on his contract; a buyout would take double that to pay off. The first year would be affordable at just $500,000, but the final seven are all over $1 million.
Year two would be $1.7 million, years three and four would jump to $2.9 million, and the final four years would cost $1.5 million against the cap.
Rakell can still be helpful, even if he struggled in 2023-24. He’ll either still be around next season or traded away, likely for a low price. A buyout makes no sense.
Ryan Graves
It’s been one year of the six-year deal signed by Ryan Graves, and it already looks like a disaster. Despite the poor first season, a buyout would be even more of a hurdle for the Penguins to leap through.
A Graves buyout would last 10 years, which is already too long for this sort of discussion, and would cost far more than anyone is willing to pay. Over the 10 years, three of them exceed $3 million.
If the Penguins want to rid themselves of Graves, they’ll need to find a dance partner for a trade.
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