With the Stanley Cup Final officially over, the offseason can begin, and that starts with the buyout window. The buyout window begins on Wednesday, 48 hours after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Final and will run through the end of the month.
For teams like the Buffalo Sabres that are in need of salary cap space, a buyout could make sense if done correctly. However, there is a tradeoff as it not only results in a cap hit this season but in future seasons, depending on how many years are left on the contract.
This is one of the reasons that the Sabres are dealing with a cap crunch, as they are having to account for Jeff Skinner's buyout, which has a cap hit of $6.4 million this year and then $2.4 million in each of the next three seasons after that.
This offseason, the Sabres have two players who realistically could be considered buyout candidates, starting with the most obvious in Jordan Greenway.
Jordan Greenway
Jordan Greenway has one year left on his contract with a base salary of $4 million and if he were to be bought out, it would save $2.67 million this season but result in a cap hit of $1.3 million next season.
When on the ice, Greenway has been productive but has dealt with several injuries the past two seasons and played a total of only 74 regular season games. He would contribute during the playoff run and had two goals and 30 hits in 13 games.
Among the players on this list, Greenway is the most obvious as the salary doesn't align with the role he has had as a fourth-liner player for the Sabres.
Josh Norris
This one might be a surprise, and it is not to say that the Sabres are going to buy out Josh Norris, but it at the very least warrants a discussion. Injuries once again were a problem for Josh Norris, and he would finish the season playing only 44 regular-season games with 34 points.
If the Sabres are not confident that Norris can be more durable moving forward, and they can't find a team willing to take on the player and his contract, then a buyout might be the best path forward. According to Puckpedia, if the Sabres were to buy out Norris this summer, it would result in cap savings just over $6.7 million this season, along with almost $6 million next season and over $5 million in the 2028-29 season.
There is the downside that starting in 2030-31, the Sabres have to account for $2.8 million against the salary cap for four more seasons before the contract is off the books. However, at that point, with where the salary cap is expected to go, this shouldn't be much of a hindrance.
If the Sabres were to buy out Norris, it gets them closer to $18 million in cap space and the possibility of re-signing Alex Tuch along with the other moves they need to make, like re-signing Zach Benson and Peyton Krebs, becomes more of a reality.
General manager Jarmo Kekalainen is going to weigh all options to clear cap space while trying to build on a promising season. Those options might including buying out either Jordan Greenway or Josh Norris to create the needed cap space.
