The trade that sent Chris Pronger’s contract and Nicklas Grossmann to the Arizona Coyotes and Sam Gagner to the Philadelphia Flyers is simple enough in the goals for each side. The specifics, however, get a little confusing.
Beyond the believed $500K in salary being retained by the Flyers, things get a little tricky if Philly GM Ron Hextall buys out Gagner.
As you may remember, the Tampa Bay Lightning retained $1.6 million of Gagner’s salary when they traded him to Arizona. Because of that move, a possible Philly buyout wouldn’t merely potentially impact the Flyers; it would also have an affect on the Bolts.
General Fanager broke down some of the ins and outs on Twitter, arriving at a conclusion that Tampa Bay might not actually mind this:
There are a few other details to work out either way, like a) will the Flyers actually do it? and b) how does the NHL feel about this situation?
Well, for one thing, Flyers GM Ron Hextall told the media that he hasn’t “thought about” a buyout yet, as CSNPhilly.com reports.
“We’ll talk about all of our options [Sunday],” Hextall said. “We’ll make decisions moving forward. We got to get our numbers in order. We’re a lot closer now.”
TSN’s Frank Seravalli confirms that the Flyers worked with the league on this situation and also cleared up lingering questions about how this may impact the Lightning:
Bill Daly says NHL consulted on and approved Pronger trade. Also, if #Flyers buy out Gagner, they impact #TBLightning's salary cap.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) June 27, 2015
That means if #Flyers buy out Gagner, which is expected, he would be on #TBLightning's cap for 2 yrs instead of 1. TB has no say, too.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) June 27, 2015
Is your head spinning yet? Imagine being Sam Gagner right now.