Brodie, Engvall headline seven NHL buyout candidates

EDMONTON — Can you feel the breeze? Winds of change are blowing and the first window for NHL teams to buy out contracts opens 48 hours after Lord Stanley’s mug is hoisted.

Last year, seven players were bought out of their contracts and paid one or two-thirds of the remaining value, depending on their age at the time of the buyout. Most notable were Jack Campbell, Cam Atkinson and Ryan Suter. Teams found a way to trade other painful deals, such as Pierre-Luc Dubois’ or Joonas Korpisalo’s, and the Rangers placed Barclay Goodrow on waivers for the San Jose Sharks to scoop up as a workaround his ‘no-trade’ clause.

This summer, really for the first time since the pandemic, teams finally have breathing room with three sizable and defined increases on-tap as a result of a landmark agreement between the NHL and NHL Players’ Association. That will also reduce the pinch for teams to enact buyouts, with many opting to take their medicine instead. But there will still likely be a few. Here are seven buyout candidates to consider:

2025 NHL Contract Buyout Candidates

1. T.J. Brodie
Left Defense, Chicago Blackhawks
Age: 34
Contract: 1 year remaining, $3.75 million AAV
Buyout Structure: 2 years, cap hits $3.23m and $258k
Scoop: Suddenly, the Blackhawks have a crowded blueline – and there’s no more room at the inn for Brodie, who struggled in his only season in Chicago. This one isn’t about salary cap savings, because that isn’t an issue for Chicago and there isn’t any here with Brodie’s signing bonus due, but simply about roster space. In fact, the Hawks might eventually need to move another one of their younger defensemen either to capitalize on surplus value or for waiver consideration.

2. Pierre Engvall
Left Wing, New York Islanders
Age: 29
Contract: 5 years remaining, $3 million AAV
Buyout Structure: 10 years, cap hit $1m per season
Scoop: The Engvall contract, a seven-year head-scratcher from jump street, is a parting gift from the Lou Lamoriello Era on Long Island. Coach Patrick Roy blasted Engvall on multiple occasions for his lack of physicality and willingness to go to the net. He was placed on waivers twice. He was a healthy scratch for stretches, even though he showed some signs of life toward the end of the season. The only blessing on his long deal is that there is no signing bonus, so the buyout is relatively painless and the Islanders can also save $5 million in real cash over the remaining term.

3. Matt Dumba
Right Defense, Dallas Stars
Age: 30
Contract: 1 year remaining, $3.75 million AAV
Buyout Structure: 2 years, cap hits $1.42m and $1.2m
Scoop: Dumba has completely fallen out of the picture in Dallas, by a combination of midseason injury and poor play, to the point where he wasn’t in the lineup for any playoff games. That’s a particular indictment considering the Stars’ relative lack of depth on the right side. Now, cap space is at a premium, with just $5 million currently remaining to sign a handful of players. One way to save $2.3 million instantly is to move on from Dumba. It’d be much more beneficial to trade him and get him completely off the books as a first remedy though.

4. Joe Veleno
Center, Chicago Blackhawks
Age: 25
Contract: 1 year remaining, $2.275 million AAV
Buyout Structure: 2 years, cap hits $796k and $296k
Scoop: Veleno is the only player on the board this year under age 26, which would allow for a one-third buyout as opposed to two-thirds, providing significant cost savings. It also isn’t a guarantee that he is bought out, as he filled out the lineup last season after a deadline trade from Detroit in exchange for a more expensive Petr Mrazek. But Veleno is still a candidate as Chicago sorts out what their forward group looks like next season and beyond. There are cost savings to be realized to the tune of $1.2 million in real cash.

5. Mathieu Joseph
Right Wing, St. Louis Blues
Age: 28
Contract: 1 year remaining, $2.95 million AAV
Buyout Structure: 2 years, cap hits $750k and $1.1m
Scoop: Let’s preface this by saying that GM Doug Armstrong loathes buyouts. Most managers do. And the Blues may not have a significant cap crunch, so this might not be necessary – and easier to grin and bear it through another year. But if Armstrong is scrounging under couch cushions for more cash, Joseph is an avenue free up a few nickels today. His production (4 goals and 10 assists) is not commensurate with his cap hit, and they can save $2.2 million on next season’s cap by buying him out.

6. Justin Holl
Right Defense, Detroit Red Wings
Age: 33
Contract: 1 year remaining, $3.4 million AAV
Buyout Structure: 2 years, cap hits $1.13m
Scoop: The biggest failure of Steve Yzerman’s tenure in Detroit as GM has been proper talent evaluation of NHL defensemen, signing the wrong players and trading away the wrong players. Holl fits into that first category, playing just 14:48 per night over 73 games last season. A buyout isn’t absolutely necessary, as they can gut through one more year, but again if Yzerman is looking to generate cap flexibility then Holl presents an exit ramp to do so. Reinventing their blueline as a whole might be more critical than the cap space.

7. Marc-Eduoard Vlasic
Left Defense, San Jose Sharks
Age: 38
Contract: 1 year remaining, $7 million AAV
Buyout Structure: 2 years, cap hits $4.3m and $1.17m
Scoop: This one is far from a guarantee but on the radar nonetheless. It’s not for cap space considerations, because there aren’t many as a result of the $2 million signing bonus owed to Vlasic in the final year of his $56 million deal. Vlasic played in just 27 games last season, collecting one goal and two assists, and averaged fewer than 15 minutes in ice time. After a remarkable career – 1,323 games, all in a Sharks uniform, an Olympic gold medal for Team Canada and a World Cup of Hockey championship – it may just be best to leave Vlasic to sail off into the sunset.

Under consideration: Pittsburgh G Tristan Jarry (cost prohibitive), St. Louis D Nick Leddy (trade candidate), Toronto F David Kampf (signing bonus preventative).