3 Players That Could Be Bought Out By The Edmonton Oilers
In the NHL there is nothing worse than dead cap, but for the Edmonton Oilers they might have to spend money in order to open up some much need cap space.
Today is the first day in the offseason where outside of trades teams in the NHL can make changes in their roster to try and help their team move forward. With the first buyout window opening today there could be some players without a team right away. For the Edmonton Oilers, there are a couple of players that could be bought out in order to save this team some money on the cap.
There is no secret, but the Oilers, are looking to be tight against the salary cap ceiling. They do have a couple of contracts that right now do not look very good. While in theory. you could buy out any player there are some contracts that when being bought out do not offer a useful amount of savings.
In my opinion, the Edmonton Oilers are going to buy out at least one player this offseason. In a perfect world, the Oilers trade him away so that they don't have dead cap space a couple of seasons down the road, but this is not a perfect world. I have put together a list of 3 players that could be bought out by the Oilers this offseason.
Cody Ceci
When it comes to buying out a player buying out Cody Ceci, is one where you would save a decent amount of money and the repercussions of the buyout would only last one season past this current one. Right now Ceci has a cap hit of $3.25 million, if they were to buy him out the new cap hit would be only $916,667 for this season. Which would be a savings of $2.33 million this season.
The buyout fee in the following season though could end up hurting the Edmonton Oilers. Coming in with a dead cap hit of $1.166 million, that is enough to sign a depth player or to have a player on his entry-level contract on the roster. At the end of the day if the Oilers want out of the Ceci contract looking for a trade partner would be the best route. His cap hit is low and he can still contribute on the ice, so a team could use him.
Ryan McLeod
While Ryan McLeod doesn't have the largest cap hit, his contract is one where they can get a decent amount of money back while still not having much to pay moving forward. While McLeod is a valuable player, he is replaceable. I don't know if the money saved would be worth having to replace him.
McLeod's current cap hit is $2.1 million if the Oilers were to buy him out the new cap hit would be $350,000 making it a savings of $1.75 million. The thing is you would still need to replace his roster spot. For the Oilers to come out ahead they would need to find his replacement for a cap hit of under $1.75 million, while it is possible to do that it is unlikely to find an effective player for that cost.
Jack Campbell
This is by far the most likely buyout for the Edmonton Oilers. The only reason Jack Campbell is not bought out is if they can trade him away. Unlike McLeod and Ceci, Campbell was not playing for the Oilers, so a buyout would make sense cause they don't even need to replace him.
Campbell has a cap hit of $5 million right now and that is 100% wasted money as he didn't even play for the Oilers for a majority of the season. While there is that dead cap space in the years following for a buyout it makes too much sense to buyout Campbell.
The buyout term would last 6 years versus his actual contract which is 3. In the first year, the Oilers would be saving $3.9 million, then saving $2.7 and $2.4 million in years 2 and 3. In the three years of dead cap of $1.5 million. It may hurt a bit in those 3 years at the end, but the short-term help it gives the Oilers is worth the move.
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It is going to be a short offseason for the Oilers, but they have a lot that needs to be done in that time. While the core of the roster is locked in, it is the edges that now need to be filled in if the Oilers hope to make it the Cup Finals again.
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*All cap/buyout info courtesy of CapFriendly*