Pair of Buy-Outs

Monday, the last day of buy-out announcements brought a couple more. Alexei Zhitnik was bought out from the last year of his deal, valued at $3.5 million, after being acquired from the Flyers for young defenseman, Braydon Coburn. Zhitnik will now become an unrestricted free agent, with some mild appeal, but it is questionable as to how much. Zhitnik finished last season with 8 points in 65 games between Philly and Atlanta.

It's the same sort of story in Columbus, as the Blue Jackets have moved to buy-out Duvie Westcott, who still has two years left on his deal, valued at $1.6 million each. Westcott was a constant healthy scratch through the year and wasn't picked up on waivers the times he was put on, so this was the next best move for the team.