NHL Rumors: Pittsburgh Penguins, Florida Panthers, and Top NHL Buyout Candidates
Holdup on a Hornqvist – Matheson trade

Elliotte Friedman: It seems that an insurance issue are holding up a Patric Hornqvist trade from the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Florida Panthers for defenseman Michael Matheson.

Elliotte Friedman: Have seen some reports that Hornqvist’s no-trade clause being an issue, but “can’t speak to that.”

Josh Yohe: “And by the way, while the Penguins and Panthers were obviously close to pulling this off, the trade might not happen at all. Clearly information got out before the teams would have liked. Sounds like things are totally stuck now. Like I said, the Penguins…never boring.”

Ranking the top NHL buyout candidates

James Mirtle of The Athletic: The NHL buyout window opens up on Friday, September 25th and runs until Thursday, October 8th. Injured players are not allowed to bought out.

A look at the top 22 NHL buyout candidates and their buyout cap hits.

1. Henrik Lundqvist – New York Rangers – $5.5 million next season and $1.5 million for 2021-22.

2. Brendan Smith – New York Rangers – $2.78 million next season and $783,333 in 2021-22.

3. Alex Steen – St. Louis Blues – $3.42 million next season and $1.17 million in 2021-22.

4. Zach Smith – Chicago Blackhawks – $1.08 million for the next two seasons.

5. David Backes – Anaheim Ducks – $3 million next season and $750,000 in 2021-22.

6. Martin Jones – San Jose Sharks –  $2.875 million for next season and Year 4 of the buyout; between $1.6 and $2.4 million the remaining six years.

7. Carter Hutton – Buffalo Sabres – $916,667 for the next two seasons

8. Devan Dubnyk – Minnesota Wild – $2.67 million next season and $833,333 in 2021-22.

9. Steven Santini – Nashville Predators – $41,667 next season and $275,000 in 2021-22.

10. Justin Abdelkader – Detroit Red Wings – $1.81 million next season, $2.31 million the following two years and $1.06 million the subsequent three years.

11. Kyle Okposo – Buffalo Sabres – $4 million next season, $5 million the year after, $3 million in 2022-23 and then $1 million a season for three more years.

12. James Neal – Edmonton Oilers – $1.917 million the next six seasons.

13. John Moore – Boston Bruins – $1.3 million next season and in Year 3 of buyout; $805,556 in 2021-22 and 2023-26.

14. Kyle Turris – Nashville Predators – $2 million for the next eight seasons.

15. Anton Stralman – Florida Panthers – $2.5 million for the next two seasons and $1.5 million for two seasons after that.

16. Olli Maatta – Chicago Blackhawks – $680,600 for the next four years.

17. Jay Beagle – Vancouver Canucks – $1.37 million next year, $2.37 million in 2021-22 and $566,667 for two additional seasons.

18. Sven Baertschi – Vancouver Canucks – $1.77 million for next season and $800,000 for 2021-22.

19. Loui Eriksson – Vancouver Canucks – $5.67 million next season, $3.67 million in 2021-22 and $666,667 for two years after that.

20. Braydon Coburn – Tampa Bay Lighting – $633,333 for next season and $533,333 for 2021-22.

21. Karl Alzner – Montreal Canadien – $3.958 million for next season, $1.96 million in 2021-22 and $833,333 in the two subsequent seasons.

22. Andrew Ladd – New York Islanders – $4.83 million for the next three years then $333,333 for three years.