Unconditional Waivers Continue

Technically speaking, Wednesday is the final day that the motions can be put in place for players to be started along the buyout process by placing them on unconditional waivers. It's kind of a grey area when you look at the calendar, but teams get the ability to buy out players, if need be, after they have been placed on waivers on June 30th. So, here should be the last batch of players for that assignment, including their buyout numbers from CapGeek.com.

It appears that the Calgary Flames are trying out other avenues to possibly clear out some cap space before the frenzy begins.  After Ales Kotalik cleared waivers the other day, he has not been bought out, so the team is looking to possibly clear out a little bit of space by putting Nigel Dawes on waivers.  Dawes has one more year on his current deal that has a cap hit of $850,000 in 2011, which might be attractive for some teams to pick up straight away, opening up that much space for the Flames to play with starting on July 1st.  If the Flames are to actually buy out Dawes and make him a free agent, the hit would not be great, saving around $700,000 against the cap this year.  Time to play wait and see.

NIGEL DAWES BUYOUT FROM CAPGEEK.COM
2010-2011: $141,667
2011-2012: $141,667

The Avalanche have decided to place defenseman Tom Preissing on unconditional waivers, likely to buy him out if and when he is to clear them tomorrow.  Preissing is scheduled to have a cap hit of $2.75 million in the 2011 season and that's way too high for a guy that couldn't crack the line-up for many games in 2010, playing a grand total of four games last season, registering a single assist.  The buyout seems inevitable here, as they would likely rather pay the $916,000 to have him away than the $2.75 million to have him in the press box for a whole year.

TOM PREISSING BUYOUT FROM CAPGEEK.COM
2010-2011: $916,667
2011-2012: $916,667

A couple of names hitting the waiver wire from the swamp, Jay Pandolfo and Andrew Peters, likely trying to be lifted from the team to try and make some cap room for Ilya Kovalchuk, hopefully before the clock strikes frenzy.  Both forwards are of the grinding variety and might have some sort of value to another NHL team, Pandolfo moreso than Peters, but both might have their appeal.

JAY PANDOLFO BUYOUT FROM CAPGEEK.COM
2010-2011: $833,333
2011-2012: $833,333

ANDREW PETERS BUYOUT FROM CAPGEEK.COM
2010-2011: $166,667
2011-2012: $166,667