Buyout Period (June 28)

I would guess that the Los Angeles Kings must have tried to move the contract that Mike Richards had left, five years at a cap hit of $5.75 million per, but that's a hard contract to move, when you're a minor leaguer in the year previous, you play 53 NHL games, scoring 5 goals and 16 points.

If no one was to take him in a trade, giving something back to absorb that contract, then there is a mighty fine chance that Richards will clear waivers and then be bought out.

According to the War on Ice buyout calculator, Richards will be owed money for the next 10 seasons at varied cap hits throughout.  The 2016 cap hit will be around $1.22 million, where it will peak is around $4.2 million, in both the 2019 & 2020 seasons.

The Montreal Canadiens were also getting in on the waiver wire act, in preparation for a buyout, as veteran winger P-A Parenteau ended up being the victim of a salary cap crunch. The Canadiens are looking to buyout the final year of his deal, where he is owed $4 million.

Last season, Parenteau didn't excite anyone, it would seem, scoring only 5 goals and 22 points in 53 games, falling out of favour of the poolies in the draft and his coaches at the pro level.

This move will open some space up, as the cap hit on this buyout, according to the calculator, will only be worth $1.333 million each year, this and next.

Those are two forwards that fell right out of favour, pretty quickly, as soon as they reached new teams, post-successful years. It will be tough for either of them to bounce back from this, but neither are terribly old and they'll have to commit to some lesser money, in order to get another shot at the big time.  It's not out of the question, by any means, but it certainly will be tough for them.