The CapFriendly buyout calculator says that the buyout costs are $383,333 in the 1st year and $883,333 for the 2cnd year. That is a very small amount compared to the $4.4 million cap hit currently, why don't they just buy him out?

Maybe hoping to get an asset out of a team willing to take a gamble on him for a playoff push around the trade deadline.

Ok, because in the beginning of the mess people were saying that New York would have to take on a bad contract or pay with a 1st in order to get rid of him

That was almost certainly true in early February, and may still be true now. Rangers may be hoping that changes. The playoff picture taking better shape can have that effect sometimes.

Because you can'T buy out someone midseason

Why would anyone give up assets for him and pay his salary when they could get him for next to nothing after the Rangers buy him out. And on the flip side, why would the Rangers pay someone to take him when they can buy him out for almost nothing. The likely conclusion is that he's bought out after this season and someone takes a flier on him or he goes to play in Europe.

The low buyout number and the high salary make it exceedingly unlikely that Tony D plays in the NHL again before his current contract is bought out. The numbers just don't work. And that doesn't even speak to whether or not another team wants to gamble on his locker room issues.

You can't buy him out until the end of the year.