The Nashville Predators have made a massive decision, choosing to buy out forward Matt Duchene’s contract according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Duchene had three seasons remaining on the $8M AAV free-agent contract he signed a few years ago. Now, they’ll save $5.44M against the cap this season, $2.44M next season, and $1.44M the season after at a cost of $1.55M from 2026-27 through 2028-29.
Here’s what Duchene’s cap hit will be, post-buyout, on Nashville’s books:
2023-24: $2.56M
2024-25: $5.56M
2025-26: $6.56M
2026-27: $1.56M
2027-28: $1.56M
2028-29: $1.56M
This move comes as a bit of a surprise seeing as Duchene was a 43-goal, 86-point scorer just one season ago. The 32-year-old’s production declined to 22 goals and 56 points in 71 games this past season, but while not exactly worth an $8M cap hit those numbers are nothing to scoff at either.
That’s solid second-line production, but with the youth movement the Predators are hoping to have up front it’s understandable that they’d want to prioritize making room for younger players to be placed in premium offensive positions.
Duchene was signed to give Nashville the top-line center they’d been craving since the franchise’s inception, but shortly after signing it became clear that Duchene was most effective playing the wing.
The Predators’ dream of a deep center corps featuring Duchene, Ryan Johansen, and Kyle Turris lasted just one season, and now all three players are no longer Predators.
Two of those players were removed from Nashville’s roster via a buyout, and in 2024-25 Nashville will have $11.55M of cap space tied up in dead money for the Turris and Duchene buyouts as well as the salary retention on Johansen’s deal. But for Barry Trotz’s new regime, cleaning house and providing room for their fresh faces on offense was clearly the priority over hoping Duchene would bounce back to his 2021-22 form.
For Duchene, he’ll now have the chance to re-enter the free agent market at the age of 32. While he might not in actuality be the 86-point superstar he has appeared to be in flashes over the course of his career, he’s still a well-regarded offensive player who is sure to have interest across the league from teams looking to add some skill to their lineup.
In a precariously thin free agent class for centers, the fact that Duchene was once regarded as an NHL first-line center will bode well for his earning power, even if it’s clear that’s not who he is anymore.
More must-reads: