As the Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights continue to slug it out in the Stanley Cup Final, 30 other teams are already focusing on next season. Part of that means preparing for free agency and setting yourself up with as much cap space as possible, which includes taking a long look at your roster and seeing if there are any bad contracts on the books that could be bought out.
The buyout window opens either on June 15 or 48 hours after the end of the Stanley Cup Final, whichever comes later. So, since we know we’ll at least have a Game 6 on Sunday, June 14, teams will officially be able to buy out players 48 hours after the Cup is handed out, up until June 30.
• If a player is 26 or older, the buyout cost is two-thirds of the remaining base salary. If a player is 25 or under, the buyout cost is one-third of the remaining base salary.
• The buyout length is twice as long as the player’s contract. Meaning if you buy out someone with two years left on their deal, you’ll have a cap hit on your books for said player for four more years.
• For every year remaining on a player’s contract, the cap savings are calculated by subtracting the projected buyout cap hit from the player’s original cap hit.
• For seasons after the original contract would have ended, the cap savings are equal to the negative amount of the annual buyout cost.
Teams ultimately have to decide whether it’s worth it to buy out a player’s contract based on each individual case. For instance, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Morgan Rielly may be heading towards a breakup, so would a buyout make sense? Well, no. Rielly has four years remaining on his deal at $7.5 million per season, and buying him out would save the Leafs $4 million per year over the rest of the contract. Sounds good, right? The problem is Toronto would also be on the hook for $2 million per season for four years after Rielly’s deal expires, all the way until 2034.
Plus, the Leafs could probably trade Rielly somewhere if he were to agree to a deal, and they wouldn’t have to incur those cap penalties. A buyout is usually best when the team has essentially exhausted all options trying to offload a contract, and the cost is easier to digest than holding onto the player.
Here are a few buyout candidates:
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The Carolina Hurricanes are one of the most well-run organizations in the NHL, and that’s one of the main reasons they’re playing for the Cup right now, but Kotkaniemi was a rare miss.
Carolina signed Kotkaniemi to an offer sheet in 2021 for one year at $6.1 million, which the Montreal Canadiens opted not to match. Some believe the Hurricanes targeted Kotkaniemi because Montreal inked Sebastian Aho to an offer sheet in 2019, which Carolina ultimately matched. If Carolina was out for revenge, Montreal may have ended up with the last laugh when it comes to Kotkaniemi.
Things haven’t gone swimmingly, to say the least, for Kotkaniemi in Carolina, as the centre has reached 40 points just once during his tenure with the Hurricanes and on three occasions he finished below 30 points. That includes this season, in which Kotkaniemi finished with two goals and nine points in 42 games. He was also a frequent scratch and hasn’t appeared in a game during Carolina’s playoff run. Mark Jankowski has supplanted Kotkaniemi as the fourth-line centre and is still under contract for two more years at a much lower price.
The Hurricanes have nearly $12 million in cap space heading into the summer with most of their key players locked up, so Carolina doesn’t necessarily have to make this move. That said, we know how aggressive the Hurricanes have been in free agency and on the trade front over the past few seasons, so extra cap space could give them more flexibility. A buyout would save Carolina nearly $4 million next season and $4.3 million for the three years after that. Kotkaniemi would still have a cap charge of $850,000 for the four years after that, but that would just be a drop in the bucket given where the cap is headed over the next few seasons.
Kotkaniemi will turn 26 in July, so it’s possible there’s a team out there willing to take a chance on a former third-overall pick via trade. But if the Hurricanes can’t move him and think they may need the cap space for another transaction, a buyout is possible.
Seeing Palat’s name on this list might be puzzling because the Islanders just acquired him in January, but his cap number no longer matches his production. The Islanders forward is due $6 million next season, and if the start of his career in New York is any indication, it’s going to be tough for him to live up to that contract.
Palat had just one goal in 29 games after joining the Islanders and averaged less than 13 minutes of ice time per game. He’s also 35 years old and hasn’t scored more than 31 points in any of the past four seasons. If New York bought Palat out, it would save $3.3 million next season and only have a $1.6 million cap hit to endure the following year. Palat would be off their books entirely after that.
The Islanders also may need to be active this summer in bringing in players as coach Peter DeBoer starts to put his fingerprints on this roster. Do the Isles need to spend on an upgrade for 33-year-old Scott Mayfield on the blue line? How will they replace Anders Lee if he hits the open market? Not to mention the goaltending, where New York may need to find someone to help ease Ilya Sorokin’s workload. Sorokin started 14 straight games down the stretch as the Isles didn’t have a secondary option they trusted.
There won’t be a lineup of teams trying to add a player in their late 30s with minimal production, so the Islanders might have to consider a buyout if they’re desperate to shed Palat’s salary.
I’m sure the Sabres were hoping the 10 goals Greenway scored in 67 games two years ago would become an annual thing, but it hasn’t panned out. Greenway scored just three goals last season and only found the back of the net once in 2025-26. There are other elements Greenway brings to the table, but the lack of offence is hard to digest when he’s making $4 million.
Especially so since the Sabres have a lot of work to do this summer. Buffalo has to navigate extensions for Zach Benson and Peyton Krebs, which will cut into its cap space. Benson’s new deal could be a sizeable number, too. He had a breakout post-season with five goals and nine points in 13 games. The Sabres will also have to make a decision on Michael Kesselring. Kesselring was the odd man out in the playoffs but is still an RFA. Then there’s Alex Tuch, who is going to command a massive contract. Free agency is very thin this year, and Tuch would arguably be the best player available. If the Sabres want to keep him, they’re going to have to pay up.
That could mean trying to get out from under Greenway’s deal. The Sabres would save almost $2.7 million if they bought him out and would have a minimal payment for 2027-28 if they want to clear him off the books. If the Sabres manage to re-sign Tuch, then Greenway could end up being a buyout casualty.
If you watched Gallagher’s end-of-season interview, it’s clear he won’t be returning to the Canadiens next season. The only question is, how will it play out? Ideally, Montreal would like to trade Gallagher, but that’s easier said than done. He just turned 34, scored only seven times this season and played just three games during Montreal’s playoff run.
The Vancouver Canucks could make some sense for Gallagher, as would any rebuilding team looking for an experienced leader to set a good example for young players on how to be pros. Gallagher spent part of his childhood in Vancouver and played for the Giants in junior, so there are connections pulling him to B.C. The move wouldn’t necessarily be a slam dunk, though, as Ryan Johnson has taken over running the team, and he’ll have to decide how he wants his roster to shape up for first-year head coach Manny Malhotra.
If the Canadiens did buy out Gallagher, he’d have an opportunity to choose his next destination, and it would open up more possibilities. Contending teams could then come into play if they think they could land Gallagher for a depth role at a much better price than the $6.5 million he’s making now. Montreal would open up $2.6 million in cap space for next season as well.
A buyout isn’t the way Gallagher or the Canadiens wanted his career in Montreal to end, but it could ultimately be the best thing for the team and player moving forward.
*All buyout calculations courtesy of PuckPedia
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