Here are 3 contract buyouts that would benefit Hughes, including Jonathan Drouin

From July 1st to July 12th, NHL teams will be able to take advantage of the contract buyout option in a first window authorized by the NHL. This option can sometimes be good to get rid of troublesome contracts in order to free up a contract spot (teams can have a maximum of 50) and especially to free up salary space.

While some buyouts can help the organization, others can hurt a lot. Talk to Bill Guerin, who bought out the contracts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter last year. Their combined contracts will take $12.74M from the team's payroll next season and $14.74M for the next two seasons. Guerin will be able to start breathing a sigh of relief in 2025-2026 and the following two years when only $1.66M will be taken from the club's payroll.

When you look at the Montreal Canadiens' situation, Hughes could very well take advantage of this option if he can't get the organization's big contracts. Some buyouts could even be beneficial to the team. Here are some of them:

Jonathan Drouin


The Quebecer's last three seasons have been very difficult. More often injured than not, he will have played only 105 games out of a possible 209, or nearly half the games. If he showed good flashes during his appearances on the ice, he was never the player the organization was looking for when they acquired him.

At $5.5M on the payroll, and especially with his injury history, it would be surprising if an NHL team would pay a high price to acquire him. However, Hughes could save a lot of money by buying out the last year of his contract.

A buyout of the last year of his contract, which takes $5.5M from the CH's payroll, could save $3.66M on the CH's payroll for the next two seasons. However, this buyout would take $1.833M for the 2023-2024 season, when Drouin's contract should have been completed by then.


Paul Byron

Like Drouin, Paul Byron has had three equally difficult years. Out of a possible 209 games, he will have played only 102. The little warrior was constantly injured and could never get back on track. Last season, he made several attempts to return to the game, which unfortunately all ended in failure.

Byron himself admitted during the last team review that the next summer will be crucial for his career. He hopes that this long period of return will allow him to rebuild his body.

So his value on the trade market is pretty much nil, the possibility of a buyout is pretty interesting here. The CH would save more than half of its annual $3.4M on the payroll, while his buyout would only mortgage $1.533M and $933,334 for the club's next two seasons.


Mike Hoffman

The disliked of many Canadiens fans has two more years in his pocket at an annual salary of $4.5M. A buyout of his contract would therefore extend his footprint on the club by another two years, but could free up over $3.3M as early as next season.

Hoffman finished last season with 15 goals and 20 assists for a total of 35 points in 67 games. His buyout is not the most advantageous of Hughes' options, but is still worth considering.


You can have fun looking at the impact of player buyouts at the excellent site CapFriendly. So you can do the same exercise for the CH player you want to see leave.

For those interested, again according to CapFriendly, the CH still has the contract of one of their bought out players on their payroll. For two more seasons, Karl Alzner will take $833,333 on the club's payroll, as he has had the final two years of his contract bought out by Marc Bergevin on October 6, 2020.