The Arizona Coyotes have placed forward Zack Kassian and defenseman Patrik Nemeth on unconditional waivers, paving the way for the team to buy out their contracts.
Kassian had only one season remaining on his four-year, $12.8 million contract. He signed with the Edmonton Oilers in 2020, and Edmonton traded him to the Coyotes last July.
Nemeth also had one year remaining on his contract, having signed a three-year, $7.5 million deal with the New York Rangers before joining the Coyotes in July, just six days after Kassian was traded.
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The Coyotes have allocated $23.3 million in cap salary for the upcoming 2023-24 season. This includes expenses for buying out Kassian, Nemeth, defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson in 2021 and the insurance-covered contracts for Shea Weber, Jakub Voracek and Bryan Little. These actions allow the Coyotes to bypass around 28 percent of the salary cap.
Savings from the buyouts increase cap space
With the buyout of Kassian's contract, the Coyotes will save about $1.533 million, reducing his cap hit to $1.67 million.
Additionally, the buyout of Nemeth's remaining season, which had an average annual value of $2.5 million, will save the team $2.33 million for the upcoming year. Nemeth's cap hit for that season will be lowered to just $167,667.
According to CapFriendly's buyout calculator, the Coyotes will incur a cap cost of $1.167 million in 2024-25 due to these buyouts.
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The Arizona team now has a cap space of $32 million as they approach the following season. This allows them to sign deals with restricted free agents and potentially make unrestricted free agents interested in joining them.
Currently, the team has four restricted free agents to re-sign — Jack McBain, Matias Maccelli, Connor Ingram and Christian Fischer.
Given the uncertainty surrounding the Coyotes' long-term future, attracting unrestricted free agents may prove challenging. However, the team may entice some players to sign one-year deals.
With the team salary budget close to $61.7M, this creates additional cap space, allowing them to allocate funds for younger players.
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Underwhelming performances
Throughout the previous season, Kassian scored only two goals, accomplished zero assists and maintained a rating of -18 in 51 games.
The 32-year-old forward spent most of his hockey career with the Oilers, playing with them for seven seasons. He also played for the Vancouver Canucks for over three seasons before that and had a brief stint with the Buffalo Sabres.
In the 2019-20 season, the 32-year-old winger's offensive abilities granted him 15 goals and 34 points in just 59 games while playing for the Oilers, and he achieved 19 points in 58 games during the final season with the Edmonton team.
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Similarly, Nemeth did not perform well throughout his time with the Coyotes, gathering only five assists in 75 games. Before joining the Arizona team, the defenseman had been a member of four other teams — the Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche.
The 31-year-old defenseman has scored ten goals and 70 points in 504 games across five teams.
On July 1, both Kassian and Nemeth will become unrestricted free agents. They will be free to pursue signing with any team they wish to join.