Huge Name Among 3 New Buyouts To Become Free Agents

With the buyout window expiring at 5pm et on Friday, there has been a flurry of new moves, including one that will turn the free agent market on its ear. 

32-year-old Matt Duchene, just one year removed from a 43-goal, 86-point season, has been bought out by the Nashville Predators. He now could be considered the best available forward on the free agent market. 

With an $8M cap hit for another three seasons, the Predators have decided to move in another direction. It will be a costly buyout, however, that will run for the next six years. 

Matt Duchene has 3 years remaining on his contract and therefore the buyout will last 6 years

Buyout Cap Hit #Smashville:
23-24: $2.56M
24-25: $5.56M
25-26: $6.56M
26-27: $1.56M
27-28: $1.56M
28-29: $1.56Mhttps://t.co/v2X0lSTmKj https://t.co/pOtYfCjWIS

— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) June 30, 2023

The buyout cap hit for the Preds starts at $2.56M next season, then shoots up to $5.56M and $6.56M the two years after that, then drops to $1.56M for the last three seasons, into 2028-29. 

Boston places Mike Reilly on waivers for purposes of a buyout

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) June 30, 2023

Next up, the Boston Bruins have finally relented and will buy out Mike Reilly and his $3 million cap hit. They've been trying to find a trade partner for the 29-year-old for some time, but now have opted to free up $2.66M in cap space for the 2023-24 campaign while taking a $1.33M cap hit in 2024-25.

Those extra funds this offseason should help the Bruins replenish the roster, with the likes of Tyler Bertuzzi, Dmitry Orlov, and Garnet Hathaway set to hit free agency. It was clear Reilly was in need of a fresh start somewhere else, after the Bruins only used him for 10 games this season due to the cap concerns.

Kailer Yamamoto will be bought out by the Red Wings. Detroit strongly considered keeping him but couldn’t make moves to make it work. Given tight cap, Yamamoto is a good you player hitting the market.

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) June 30, 2023

Kailer Yamamoto's time with the Detroit Red Wings lasted just 24 hours, after they acquired him a day ago in a trade with the Edmonton Oilers. The Wings were hoping to hang on to the young forward, but just couldn’t make it work, cap-wise.

With the buyout, his potential $3.1M cap hit for next season now turns into just $433,334 against the cap this season and $533,334 in 2024-25.

Photo: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports