The Boston Bruins announced on Friday that they had placed defenseman Mike Reilly on waivers for the purpose of a buyout.
According to the PuckPedia Buyout Calculator, the total buyout cost for Mike Reilly is $2.6 million. With one year left on the contract, the buyout is applied over two years with a $333,000 cap hit in year one and a $1.33 million AAV in year two. Per Bruins will gain $2.67 million against the salary cap and now have $13.6 million in cap space to fill with 13 players on the roster (6F/6D/1G).
The deadline to buy NHL players out is at 5 p.m. ET, but as of noon on Friday, the Boston Bruins were not expected to buy any other players out.
After signing a three-year, $9 million contract ($3M AAV), on July 27, 2021, things have gone rapidly downhill for Reilly with the Bruins. A buyout candidate at this time last year, the 29-year-old, 6-foot-1, 196-pound rearguard was kept by the Boston Bruins but waived twice (once before the season and then during), and a constant on the NHL trade market. Unfortunately for Reilly and the Bruins, general manager Don Sweeney was never able to find a taker. Reilly was buried in the AHL, playing 36 games for the Providence Bruins after just ten with the Boston Bruins.
The Boston Bruins also announced that they had issued qualifying offers to Michael DiPietro, Trent Frederic, Kyle Keyser, Jakub Lauko, Marc McLaughlin, Ian Mitchell, Alec Regula, Jeremy Swayman, and Reilly Walsh. Samuel Asselin and Kai Wissmann did not receive qualifying offers. Per Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney on Thursday, Asselin had requested to move on, and Wissman has signed to play in his native Germany to play for DEL’s Eisbären Berlin.
NHL free agency begins at noon on Saturday. Sweeney will address the media at approximately 4 p.m. ET on Saturday.
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