Action has picked up on Day 2 of the NHL’s compliance buyout window.
Around the same time Vancouver put David Booth on waivers so he could be amnestied, word broke that Buffalo would do the same with beleaguered forward Ville Leino.
First reported by the Buffalo News, word of Leino’s buyout shouldn’t come as much of a surprise -- back in mid-April, GM Tim Murray said buying out Leino was “a very good possibility.”
Leino, 30, recently wrapped the third of a six-year, $27 million deal that’s widely regarded as one of the NHL’s most onerous contracts. Signed by ex-GM Darcy Regier after shooting to prominence with the Flyers — when he found magic during the ’10 playoffs with Scott Hartnell and Daniel Briere, scoring 21 points in 19 games — Leino has been a colossal disappointment in Buffalo, scoring just 46 points in 137 games while missing 75 to a variety of injuries, healthy scratches and a suspension.
This year, Leino gained infamy by failing to score a single goal in 58 games, and only put 38 shots on goal.
Buffalo has yet to use either of its compliance buyouts — where the salary-cap charge is completely wiped clean, but the team must pay two-thirds of the remaining contract across twice the remaining term of the deal — opting to use a regular buyout, not a compliance, on Nathan Gerbe last summer.
Assuming nobody plucks Leino off waivers and the Sabres buy him out, they’ll be relieved of his $4.5 million cap hit over the next three seasons but will pay him $1.22 million per season until 2020.
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