The first buyout window opens up on July 1 and that will be the first chance for the Maple Leafs to execute a buyout of Mrazek's contract, should they choose to do.
When the Toronto Maple Leafs moved on from their former starting goaltender Frederik Andersen, they had to figure out what they were going to do moving forward to help support Jack Campbell.
Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas elected to sign Petr Mrazek to a three-year contract worth $3.8 million per season. Essentially the club was gambling that Mrazek, who had posted some solid numbers with other clubs (when healthy) could do the same and push Campbell or even split the duties as a tandem goaltender.
Things went off the rails at the very beginning of the season. Mrazek, made his debut during the club's second game of the season. He left the game after the second period with a groin injury (one of three that he would endure that season).
Although Mrazek finished the season with a 12-6-0 record, his play was less than what the club had expected. When Campbell was hurt later in the season and Mrazek began to get more games, he faltered, paving the way for fourth-stringer Erik Kallgren to get some looks in goal.
It's a difficult situation the Maple Leafs find themselves in. Given the number of injuries, it's hard to expect that Mrazek will bounce back. His $3.8 million cap hit would be useful right now as the team tries to figure out who their starting goaltender will be next season.
So what should the Maple Leafs do?
One option would be to buy out the remaining two years of Mrazek's contract. Per Capfriendly.com, that would save the Leafs $2,766,667 in cap space for next season. That amount of money isn't insignificant. They would also save $2,966,667 in cap space for 2023-24, but then incur salary cap charges of $1,433,333 in the following two seasons.
Those latter two years of cap charges may be a small price to pay with the recent news that the NHL saw increased revenues this season. They seem to have weathered the pandemic storm rather well and that could see the salary cap move up significantly beyond the $1 million pace that it was originally projected to increase.
There is always the option that the Leafs could place the goaltender on long-term injured reserve and just use the LTI exemption to free up the $3.8 million in space. While that may seem like a good idea, the fact of the matter is that one player on LTI at a small cap charge doesn't help the Leafs, as they are unable to accrue daily cap savings during the regular season once in the LTI pool.
Buying the player out would be an admission of a mistake made by Dubas while trying to course-correct the team's issues in goal.
It's probably what needs to be done. The Maple Leafs have just $5.8 million in cap space to address other needs, including a starting goaltender and that extra $2.8 million would come in handy.