Kings’ Pierre-Luc Dubois among nine buyout candidates in 2024 NHL offseason

Credit: Mar 5, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Kings center Pierre-Luc Dubois (80) moves the puck against the Vancouver Canucks during the first period at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

The salary cap is set, but the clock is ticking. NHL front offices are keeping an eye on both the calendar and the scoreboard in the Stanley Cup Final, as the first buyout window of the offseason will open 48 hours after Lord Stanley’s mug is hoisted.

Last year, nine players were bought out of their deals, including four in the final hours before the window closed on June 30. There were also a few expensive surprises such as Vancouver biting the bullet on Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who is two games away from etching his name on the Stanley Cup, and Nashville cutting ties with Matt Duchene.

This year, the crop is equally intriguing. Teams are enjoying a few extra days of number crunching with next season’s salary cap set at $88 million on Saturday after its first meaningful increase in five years. With that, here are nine players who could be staring down early exits in their contracts:

2024 Buyout Candidates

1. Pierre-Luc Dubois
Center, Los Angeles Kings
Age: 25
Contract: 7 years remaining, $8.5 million AAV
Buyout Structure: 14 seasons varying from $1.1 mil to $3.8 mil
Scoop: Yes, we heard GM Rob Blake say at locker cleanout day that the Kings were not planning on buying out Dubois. But this makes too much sense. At least until June 24, it does. That’s when Dubois turns 26. For now, he is 25, and that means the Kings are only responsible for paying one-third of the money remaining on his deal, instead of two-thirds which happens when he celebrates his 26th birthday. If the Cup Final goes to Game 7, then it won’t be possible. And of course, a 14-year buyout sounds painful now, but the majority of the cap hits are negligible at a time when the cap will be well exceeding $100 million per year. The Kings would save $32 million in real cash – which is a serious amount of dough. It’s better to admit a mistake and pay a lesser price rather than double down and have it hurt much worse in the long-term.

2. Jack Campbell
Goaltender, Edmonton Oilers
Age: 32
Contract: 3 years remaining, $5 million AAV
Buyout Structure: 6 seasons varying from $1.1 mil to $2.6 mil
Scoop: Jack Campbell struggled nearly from jump street in Oil Country, seemingly unable to perform under the weight of his contract. He was waived and banished to AHL Bakersfield in November after the team’s 2-8-1 start. Campbell has been back with the team as an emergency third goaltender in the playoffs, but it was telling that he wasn’t even on Edmonton’s radar as Stuart Skinner struggled in Round 2 and they turned to journeyman Cal Pickard. They didn’t trust Campbell. It’s hard to imagine that changing. Yes, the buyout isn’t pretty, but the Oilers can’t continue with $3.85 million in buried cap space devoted to Campbell. Edmonton needs relief from that and stretching out the term of Campbell’s deal in exchange for $2.85 million in cap savings for next season makes sense.

3. Barclay Goodrow
Center, New York Rangers
Age: 31
Contract: 3 years remaining, $3.64 million AAV
Buyout Structure: Cap credit, then 5 seasons varying from $1 mil to $3.5 mil
Scoop: The Rangers think highly of Goodrow, who also scored some Empire State-sized goals for the Blueshirts in the playoffs. He netted more goals (6) in 16 postseason contests than he did (4) in 80 regular season games. Go figure. Nonetheless, $3.6 million is way too much to pay your fourth-line center, and there doesn’t appear to be much upward mobility in the lineup for Goodrow. He does his job, and he does it well, but his contract throws New York’s cap balance out of whack. Couple that with the fact that the Rangers could buy him out this month and not only not have a penalty, but a unique salary cap credit of $247,222 next season to effectively increase their cap to $88.247 million? That feels like a no-brainer. By 2026-27, that one painful year of the buyout, the salary cap should be north of $97 million.

4. Joonas Korpisalo
Goaltender, Ottawa Senators
Age: 30
Contract: 4 years remaining, $5 million AAV
Buyout Structure: 8 seasons varying from $333k to $2.3 mil
Scoop: Oof. This is a tough one. And Korpisalo isn’t the only recently signed goalie that you could ask the buyout question about – with Tristan Jarry and Korpisalo’s former partner Elvis Merzlikins also in the realm of possibility. Korpisalo was signed by the old Ottawa regime in Pierre Dorion just one summer ago. He had a tough .890 save percentage and wasn’t part of the solution with a roster that has run through its fair share of netminders. The buyout isn’t overly onerous and would result in a cash savings of $5.3 million, which is also important to this ownership group. Here’s the rub: If the Sens were to hang onto Korpisalo and hope that his game rebounds, they clearly are trying to bring in a new goalie to play the bulk of the starts, so how much can his stock possibly rise in the meantime?

5. Jean-Gabriel Pageau
Center, New York Islanders
Age: 31
Contract: 2 years remaining, $5 million AAV
Buyout Structure: 4 seasons varying from $1.25 mil to $2.75 mil
Scoop: Given what we can see from Lou Lamoriello’s playbook last summer, Pageau is much more likely to be a Trade Target than a buyout candidate. Though, the Isles belong in “Only God and Lou Know” territory, and it can’t be ruled out. Perhaps the Islanders, still in desperate need of cap flexibility, are better off keeping their recently acquired second-round capital and hoping to restock their prospect cupboard. If that’s the case, then a buyout is possible, which would create $2.75 million in cap savings next season alone. Or, the Islanders can include a second-round pick and package Pageau up to get him off the books totally. Right now, he seems like the most likely to be on the move to make things happen.

6. Torey Krug
Left Defense, St. Louis Blues
Age: 33
Contract: 3 years remaining, $6.5 million AAV
Buyout Structure: 6 seasons varying from $333k to $2.33 mil
Scoop: Never count out GM Doug Armstrong from something spicy, bordering on vindictive. Armstrong doesn’t mess around, and Krug threw a huge wrench into last summer’s plans when he (rightfully) blocked a trade to Philadelphia by virtue of his ‘no-trade’ clause. You know what ‘no-trade’ clauses don’t protect against? Buyouts. Armstrong is managing a team that has missed the playoffs two years in a row. The Blues’ owner has acknowledged a long-term rebuild doesn’t work in that market. Armstrong is stuck with a top four defense that all has trade protection and makes north of $23 million. Something probably will change there, and exercising the buyout on Krug – not necessarily just for cap space reasons – would send a strong message. Krug’s buyout over the next four seasons barely adds up to one more season at $6.5 million.

7. Cal Petersen
Goaltender, Philadelphia Flyers
Age: 29
Contract: 1 year remaining, $5 million AAV
Buyout Structure: 2 seasons at $1 mil and $2 mil AAV
Scoop: The Flyers’ tandem next season is Ivan Fedotov and Sam Ersson. They also don’t have a ton of salary cap maneuverability on paper, unless they want to operate in LTIR again with Ryan Ellis’ $6.2 million or Ryan Johansen’s $4 million. One way to create $2.85 mil in space is to exercise a buyout on Petersen, who saw five games of spot duty and did little to dispel the image that he belongs in the AHL. He had an .864 save percentage in those five games and clearly didn’t earn the trust of John Tortorella. If the Flyers can grind through one more season with Petersen, that might be the preferred play. They haven’t made up their mind yet.

8. Cam Atkinson
Right Wing, Philadelphia Flyers
Age: 35
Contract: 1 year remaining, $5.875 million AAV
Buyout Structure: 2 seasons at $2.3 and $1.75 mil
Scoop: Just like Petersen, the play might be to grin and bear it through the final year of Atkinson’s deal and move on. It’s so much cleaner from a cap perspective. We also don’t know yet what else the Flyers have up their sleeve or what moves they’d like to make. That will dictate how aggressively they’d need to act with either the Petersen or Atkinson buyouts. Atkinson is a well-liked teammate who has been through the battles with Tortorella over the years. His production last season (28 points) was his lowest in a full season as his play has tapered off with age. You never know, if you hang onto Atkinson and he has a strong season, he could turn into trade fodder.

9. Ryan Suter
Left Defense, Dallas Stars
Age: 39
Contract: 1 year remaining, $3.65 million AAV
Buyout Structure: 2 seasons at $783k and $1.4 mil
Scoop: Only one player in NHL history (Tony DeAngelo) has been bought out twice in his career, but Suter could be the second. His massive buyout is still gumming up the works for the Minnesota Wild, a move they felt had to be done. Suter has been mostly fine for the Stars, but the end of this contract was always going to be problematic. And Suter has been particularly exposed in the Stanley Cup playoffs each of the last two postseasons with lack of speed and turnovers. Yes, Suter was on this list last year. No, the Stars didn’t do it. But they’d have to at least consider it this year if Suter isn’t considering retirement after $111 million in career earnings.

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Kings’ Pierre-Luc Dubois among nine buyout candidates in 2024 NHL offseason

2024 Buyout Candidates

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