With noontime having passed and the league’s buyout period coming to an end at 5 p.m. today, it was the final day to put players on waivers for the purpose of buying them out of their contracts. Once the clock struck 12 noon, the word came down, this time courtesy of TSN’s Bob McKenzie that three defensemen would hit the waiver wire to be eligible to be bought out.
McKenzie tweeted that Edmonton’s Sheldon Souray, Columbus’ Mike Commodore, and Minnesota’s Cam Barker were all unconditionally waived by their teams. They’ll be on waivers for the next 24 hours and if another team doesn’t pick them up, they’ll become unrestricted free agents.
For all three of them, last season proved to be a struggle. For Souray, he was buried in the AHL by the Oilers with the Capitals farm team in Hershey as they didn’t want him around any of their prospects. Their parting is long overdue and the fat contract they gave to Souray back in 2007 sits as one filled with injury and now bad feelings. With one year remaining on his deal, his buy out will be paid out over the next two seasons with a cap hit of $2.4 million this year and $1.5 million next year according to CapGeek.
Mike Commodore’s situation in Columbus was similarly difficult. Commodore didn’t see eye-to-eye with coach Scott Arniel and struggled to get ice time with the Blue Jackets who had defensive issues all season. With those kinds of problems and when you’re not getting a chance to help fix them, that means things are going rather poorly.
Commodore was sent to the Jackets’ AHL team in Springfield for most of the year and was put on waivers a couple of times to see if teams would snag him. No one ever bit and Commodore stayed in the AHL to languish. Commodore’s contract has two years left which means his buy out will be paid out over the next four years with a cap hit against the Blue Jackets in the range of just over $1 million per year according to CapGeek.
- 2011-12: $1,391,667
- 2012-13: $1,541,667
- 2013-14: $1,141,667
- 2014-15: $1,141,667
Cam Barker’s tenure in Minnesota was a brutal one. After coming to the Wild in the deal that saw Nick Leddy and Kim Johnsson sent to Chicago, Barker was seen as the “sure thing” in that deal. After a year and a half in Minnesota, Barker’s struggles have made it so that he’s worn out his welcome in St. Paul and the Wild are moving on without him.
In 71 games with the Wild, Barker had two goals and ten assists and was a -12 defenseman. He was known more for his turnovers and poor coverage than he was anything else and now the Wild are eager to let him go. That trade involving Nick Leddy might go down in infamy in Minnesota when it’s all said and done. With just one year left on his deal, it’ll take two years to get the buyout hit off the Wild’s salary cap. With Barker being 25 when being bought out the buyout is for 1/3 of his cap hit meaning that the $1.083 million cost is spread out over two years. CapGeek breaks down the minimal pain felt by Minnesota for the buyout.
With these three guys likely hitting unrestricted free agency on Friday afternoon, things get a little bit more interesting as all three will likely see some interest from teams. With the defensive market getting thinned out leading up to Friday’s free agency frenzy, the buyouts could be a blessing in disguise for them as they’ll be free to pursue a deal with a team that wants them around now. They may not be the lucrative deals they’re coming off of, but at the least they should be able to get back to the NHL or find a comfortable place to fix their game.