Sure, the dead money will hurt, but Murray’s constant battles with various ailments already make him unavailable to the team for over half the schedule anyway. Those health issues will likely be the biggest factor motivating a potential buyout from the Sens’ point of view. Injuries, however, have always been Murray’s downfall, and this season was no different as the Thunder Bay native appeared in just 20 games and failed to stay on the ice consistently for the second consecutive year. The 28-year-old looked surprisingly decent in the limited playing time he logged, even putting together a stretch or two during which he looked like the two-time Stanley Cup champion that convinced the Senators to pay him like one of the best goalies in the league two offseasons ago.
Murray’s 2021-22 was not nearly the disaster that his debut campaign in Ottawa was the year prior. So when it comes to a buyout of this magnitude, eating $ 10 million in dead money is something that may prevent the organization from moving forward with it – even if both Murray and the Senators could probably use a fresh start. The Ottawa Senators are not a franchise capable of just throwing money. – Contract: 2 years left, $ 6.25 million AAV With two years left on his deal, though, the question is whether it would be more worthwhile to just reap the cap savings of sending Kassian to the AHL and be done with it as opposed to gaining an extra $ 2.5 million in wiggle room this summer and $ 1.3 million next summer while shackling a fraction of Kassian’s dead money to the books for another four years. Kassian’s contract has been nothing short of a disaster for the Oilers, and with the team facing a crucial offseason filled with key expiring contracts and not enough cap space with which to re-sign them, shedding even a fraction of Kassian’s remaining money might be a good idea. And almost immediately after he put pen to paper, Kassian’s production fell off a cliff as most assumed it would, with the bruiser having racked up a combined eight goals and 24 points in 85 games over the first two years of this deal while watching his average ice time drop by a whopping four minutes. Nothing in Kassian’s career leading up to this extension ever indicated that he was worth such a hefty price or lengthy term.
One of the first significant contracts of the Ken Holland era was always destined for disaster. – Contract: 2 years left, $ 3.2 million AAV Let’s take a look at the top five buyout candidates heading into the off-season.