Canucks: Exploring more buyout options for this offseason

The Vancouver Canucks are officially in their first buyout period.

According to CapFriendly, teams were officially able to start the buyout process for their players 48 hours after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. As we all know, the Tampa Bay Lightning captured their second consecutive championship last Wednesday, defeating the Montreal Canadiens in five games. The game concluded just before 8pm ET, meaning that the Canucks have been allowed to partake in these salary-shedding activities since Friday evening.

Of course, there’s a lot more behind-the-scene factors that need to be considered when it comes to buying out a player, particularly how that contract could affect the team in the long run. Take Ryan Spooner, for example. His last game for the Canucks took place on April 6th, 2019 but, as a result of his buyout, he remained on the team’s books up until the end of this most recent season, to a tune of just over $1 million. Not exactly ideal.

We don’t often see too many buyouts in an offseason but, given the flat cap and looming expansion draft, it may not be that surprising to see some teams deploy this option in the coming days. Take a look at the Minnesota Wild, who just bought out not one, but two of their veteran players in Zach Parise and Ryan Suter.

Previously, The Canuck Way explored what exactly it would look like if the Canucks were to buy out forward Loui Eriksson. At first, most fans seemed on board with the idea based on production value and AAV. The soon-to-be 37-year-old, who will have a cap hit of $6 million during the 2021-22 campaign, only suited up for seven games this past season and has never eclipsed the 30-point plateau during his five years in Vancouver.

However, when you actually dive deeper into the numbers, it would make much more sense for the team to bury Eriksson in the minors for his last year.

So, who could the Canucks buy out then, if they decide to pursue this option? Let’s take a look at three possible options this offseason.

1. Antoine Roussel

Unlike Eriksson, Roussel’s contract has a front-loaded structure which isn’t exactly favourable for a buyout. The former Dallas Star signed a four-year, $12 million deal in July 2018, which awarded him $3 million worth of signing bonuses in the first two years alone. This upcoming season, despite accounting for a $3 million cap hit, Roussel is only being paid $1.9 million in base salary. He also has a modified NTC that allows him to add five teams to his no-trade list.

The 31-year-old, who was limited to 35 games this year as a result of injury, hasn’t been able to find his footing anywhere in the team’s forward group as of late. Over the past three seasons, Roussel has registered 17 goals, 31 assists and 198 PIM in 141 games. Although he can still be relied upon for penalty kill contributions, it’s evident that Roussel is struggling to keep up with the speed of today’s game and, as a result, is definitely not worth his current $3 million AAV.

With only one year left on his deal, a Roussel buyout would only affect the cap for the next two campaigns. The Canucks would be able to clear $1.26 million of cap space for this upcoming season, but would also incur a hit of $633,334 in 2022-23, meaning that they’d only be saving the amount of $633,333 over two years.

Not exactly eye-popping cap relief for a team that’s up against it.

It’s also important to consider what the Canucks would be saving if they instead decided to demote Roussel to Abbotsford instead.

According to CapFriendly, the cap hit relief of a buried contract would be “the minimum salary of the respective season + $375,000”. Currently, the league salary minimum for the 2021-22 season is $750,000, which would put Roussel at a cap relief of $1.125 million if he was sent to the AHL. Considering that the buyout option would only give you $141,666 more in cap relief for the first season compared to a demotion, you can see why Roussel isn’t exactly the best candidate for this option.

2. Jake Virtanen

We’ll need to tread cautiously with this one.

At the time of this article being published, Virtanen is currently on leave from the organization after receiving sexual assault allegations.

There’s no doubt that this is an extremely sensitive issue, one that should be treated with care and respect. As a result, we’ll focus only on the number-crunching behind a possible Virtanen buyout.

Prior to being placed on leave by the team, Virtanen continued to struggle as a Canuck. The former sixth-overall pick only produced five points in 38 games and, much like Roussel, failed to make any impact for the team while on the ice. Virtanen just wrapped up the first season of his current two-year deal, producing a cap hit of $2.55 million per season, but has performed well below that value.

Fortunately, Virtanen’s age puts the team at a much better position to pursue a buyout.

According to CapFriendly, players below the age of 26 are only owed 1/3 of their remaining contract value, compared to the 2/3 ratio for players 26 and older. For 2021-22, Virtanen would receive $3 million in base salary, as well as $400,000 in signing bonuses. He will be turning 25 in August.

As a result, the Canucks would be saving $2.5 million from a Virtanen buyout for this upcoming season, which would produce a cap hit of just $50,000. It should be noted that the cap hit would increase to $500,000 in 2022-23, but if a team can incur a total cap hit of well-under $1 million over two seasons, it’s definitely an option that management should strongly consider.

3. Jay Beagle

Contracts play a big role in whether or not a player is likely to get bought out. For Beagle, his contract will almost definitely keep him in the Vancouver organization.

Like Roussel, Beagle is also entering the last year of his heavily front-loaded four-year deal. In the first two seasons of his contract, Beagle earned $7.6 million in base salary and signing bonuses, good for just under 2/3 of his total earnings. Last season, he earned $2.2 million without any signing bonuses. This season, he’s expected to earn the same amount, with $1 million coming from a signing bonus and $1.2 million from base salary. Also like Roussel, the final year of Beagle’s deal comes with a five-team no-team trade list as part of a modified NTC.

Beagle, who will be turning 36 in October, has had his ups and downs in Vancouver. The former Washington Capital was once again a key part of the team’s penalty kill this year, accumulating the second-highest shorthanded TOI total amongst forwards with 97:20. He also posted the best faceoff percentage in all scenarios amongst the other mainstay centres with 56.2%. However, like all aging veterans, Beagle’s overall gameplay and on-ice production continues to plummet, which ultimately relegated him to the fourth-line centre position with less responsibility.

Not to mention, Beagle continues to suffer with injuries.

Over three seasons with Vancouver, Beagle has missed 65 total games, including a long-term injury that sidelined him for the final 26 games this past season. As a result, Beagle has been on LTIR since March 31st.

If Beagle remains on LTIR for the start of the 2021-22 season, which appears to be the likely scenario, then the Canucks wouldn’t need to worry about anything. Beagle’s remaining $3 million AAV wouldn’t count towards the cap, and the team would have additional cap space to work with while the last year of Beagle’s contract slowly runs its course from the press box.

However, even if it is believed that Beagle could be healthy by the start of training camp, it wouldn’t make sense for the team to consider a buyout for him now. The Canucks would only be saving $800,000 this upcoming season, based on an AAV of $3 million and a cap hit of $2.2 million, and would also be dinged $400,000 the following season for a total savings of $400,000 over two years.

Factor in a cap hit of only $1.25 million if Beagle were to receive an AHL demotion instead, and you can see why a buyout would actually do more harm than good for the team’s current financial structure.

Based on the number-crunching and analysis for each contract, it appears that Virtanen would be the best option for a buyout. The big question – will General Manager Jim Benning decide to take this route soon?

The NHL’s first buyout window will remain open until July 27th at 5:00 p.m. ET. Free agency is set to begin the following day at 12:00pm ET.

What are your thoughts, Canucks fans? Should the organization be exploring buyout possibilities before time runs out? Let us know in the comments!