An interesting development that could impact the Leafs and their decision on goaltender Petr Mrazek
There is some league news to announce that could have some important implications for the Toronto Maple Leafs and goaltender Petr Mrazek, who has 2 years remaining on his current deal, which carries a $3.8M cap hit.
Per CapFriendly, the NHL has announced its official buyout windows ahead of the 2022-23 season. The first window will open on July 1st, 2022 and the second window will close on July 12th, 2022. That gives teams just under two weeks to make decisions on whether or not they'd like to exercise their right to buy out players prior to the opening of free agency on July 13th.
One important thing to note about the second buyout window is that players who make less than $4M will not be eligible to be bought out during this window. Why is that pertinent to the Leafs and Petr Mrazek? Well, his $3.8M AAV falls below that threshold, meaning that if the Leafs don't buy him out in the first window, they won't have the option to do it in the second window.
The most common response I get when I'm talking about buying Mrazek out is that the Leafs will have no problem finding a trade partner for the Czech goaltender because plenty of teams are in need of an experienced netminder. That's true, but there is a caveat that we shouldn't ignore here. While moving Mrazek should be simple enough to do, it would mean attaching an alluring prospect or a draft pick to him to add an incentive for another team to take on the final two years of his deal. A buyout allows the Leafs to retain their prospects and their draft capital.
In terms of how much a buyout of Mrazek's deal would cost the Leafs, it's actually quite digestible. According to CapFriendly's buyout calculator, if the Leafs wanted to rid themselves of Mrazek's deal, it would only cost them $1.033M this coming season, $833K in 2023-24 and $1.43M in 2024-25 and 2025-26. So most or all of his buyout penalty will be covered by the annual salary cap increase of $1M-$2M over the course of the duration of the buyout.
No lost prospects, no lost picks. Unless Mrazek ends up being a part of a larger package to bring in a player or goaltender who can make a significant difference, I think a buyout is the way to go, personally.
| POLL | ||
MAI 18 | 592 ANSWERS An interesting development that could impact the Leafs and their decision on goaltender Petr Mrazek Should the Leafs just buy Mrazek's contract out? | ||
| Absolutely, the buyout penalty isn't bad | 240 | 40.5 % |
| No, we don't need to have any dead cap space | 106 | 17.9 % |
| Trade him, even if it costs a pick or prospect | 246 | 41.6 % |
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