3 Potential Vancouver Canucks' Buyout Candidates

Now that the 2022-23 NHL season is in the final stretch, the clubs that are in the playoffs turn their attention to the postseason. The teams that didn't make the playoffs turn their attention to the offseason and what could be done to fix the issues they had the previous year. This series will look at buyout candidates that each NHL team has going into the draft and free agency. We will start by looking at the Vancouver Canucks, and who they have on their roster for a possible contract termination.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson

The Canucks look to be heading into a full-on rebuild and will be looking to shed some salary during that process. Currently, Oliver Ekman-Larsson is under contract until 2026-27 with an AAV of $7.26 million. Ekman-Larsson has $29 million in remaining salary, if the Canucks do go through the buyout process they will owe him $19.3 million. That will save the club $9.6 million in total dollars over the next four seasons. The buyout cost per season will be $2.416 million, and the Canucks will have a cap hit total of $20.5 million spread over eight seasons.

Tyler Myers

Tyler Myers may be a more reasonable buyout based on the years remaining on his deal. He is set to enter the final year of his deal which will pay him $6.0 million. However, only $1.0 million of that $6 is base salary, he will receive a $5.0 million signing bonus as of July 1, 2023. Meaning, buying him out will save the Canucks $666K in actual dollars and cost them $333K in buyout costs. Due to the Myers' deal only having 1 year remaining if they were to terminate his deal, the buyout would span two seasons.

Conor Garland

Conor Garland is under contract until 2025-26, he has an AAV of $4.95 million. His contract buyout would span over 6 seasons, with a 2/3 ratio. This means the Canucks pay 2/3 of his existing contract and save the other 1/3. As a result, they would pay him $11.3 million and save $5.6 million. The buyout cost would be $1.8 million per season, with a cap hit total of $9.183 million spread over 6 years.

All three of these players are viable buyout candidates for the Canucks, who are trending in a rebuilding direction. Although buying out a contract still results in paying over a set amount of seasons, it also allows a team to have a bit more cap flexibility from the initial cap hit of the player's deal before the termination. The Canucks have a good young core and since the coaching change, the team has played exceptionally well. If they can move out some money, it can allow the team to target other players via free agency or by trade.