Now that the Stanley Cup Final is over and the Florida Panthers have won the Stanley Cup, all 32 NHL teams will shift their attention to the off-season.
The official start to the off-season begins in just 48 hours (June 20), when NHL teams across the league will be able to buy out players. That window will remain open until June 30 at 5 PM EST. Any player bought out during that time will become a free agent and can sign with a new team as of July 1
So, the big question for the Utah Mammoth is: will they be planning to buy out anyone?
Looking through the roster, there really isn’t anyone who screams buyout candidate. Some might point to Matias Maccelli as a potential option, but when you run his contract through the buyout calculator on CapWages.com, the results don’t necessarily justify that move. The total cost of buying him out would be $708,333 over two years, which comes to around $1.4 million overall. It would save the Mammoth $2.8 million in cap space. That’s not bad, but if they can’t find a trade partner for him, it might be the only reason to consider the buyout.
Outside of Maccelli, the only other name that could be brought up in buyout conversations is John Marino. But even that doesn’t really make sense. Yes, he missed most of the 2024-25 season due to injury and the Mammoth still managed to perform well without him in the lineup. But buying out Marino would be a much more expensive and drawn-out process. The buyout would span four years and cost the team $6.5 million total, all while only saving them $3.25 million. That just isn’t worth the financial hit. It makes a lot more sense to let him come into camp, show what he can do when healthy, and then re-evaluate. If it still doesn’t work, a trade would be the better route — maybe even for a mid-round pick.
The reality is that Utah doesn’t have a contract on the books that absolutely needs to be bought out. Nothing is weighing them down so badly that it can’t be handled through the trade market. If they’re looking to move on from Maccelli, they should be working the phones. A buyout should only happen if they’ve truly exhausted every trade option available. Obviously, the buyout window is there if they need it. But as of now, there’s no reason to think Utah is going to use it. Expect their focus to stay on the trade market and improving their roster that way instead.
