Devils Buyout Hunter and White

On Monday, the New Jersey Devils placed newly-acquired forward Trent Hunter and veteran defenseman Colin White on unconditional waivers with the purpose of buying out the remainder of their contracts.  On Tuesday, the process was completed, as both players cleared waivers and were handed their walking papers and a portion of the remaining years on their deals, opening up cap space for the Devils going forward in the 2012 season.

Hunter, acquired in the deal that sent Brian Rolston to Long Island, looked like he could be a good fit in the team's bottom six on paper, but that obviously didn't seem to be the case for Devils management, who likely had the intention of buying him out since the day of the deal, making the extra cap space for Rolston leaving that much better.

Trent Hunter buyout from CapGeek.com
2011-12: $666,667
2012-13: $666,667
2013-14: $666,667
2014-15: $666,667

A career New Jersey Devils defenseman, White has seen some of the best years in the swamp and wallowed through some of the worst years, including the 2011 season, but that didn't seem to save his relationship for the 2012 season, as they have now cut him loose.

Colin White buyout from CapGeek.com
2011-12: $1,000,000
2012-13: $1,000,000

Before these buyouts went down, the Devils were holding on to 20 players (13 forwards, five defense, two goalies) and two buyouts already on the books for a projected cap hit of $56.8 million. Take down a forward and a defenseman, add two more buyouts, and the team's projected cap hit for the 2012 season will be $53.4 million, a savings of $3.4 million.