Quoting: BlackwoodForVezina
Ottawa doesn't want to pay 2 2nds for that maybe they would if they were contending
Quoting: justaBoss
If OTT wanted to get rid of Murray they'd buy him out. His buyout is rather cheap.
Quoting: TheBoyDuddus
Not paying that to dump Murray when theyre not pressed up against the cap.
Ahh, some common sense in these comments.
On a side note, teams don’t like to buy out players, and only do it if they absolutely have to. The main reason is a player is no longer an NHL level player, or is severely, and I mean severely, overpaid. With every Sens goalie struggling this season, no one can honestly say that Murray is the fault of the teams struggles, and is not an NHL goalie anymore.
There will be talk of a Colin White buyout this summer, but I wouldn’t bet on it. Yes it’s a cheap buyout at 1/3 cost, but they also would lose a capable NHL centre, which is a team weakness. Over paying a younger player a little is a better option than losing the asset. The team likes White, and they have missed him this season.
Guys like Murray, Zaitsev, and White have value, and until this team starts spending to the cap, their salaries are irrelevant because there’s no difference between $10MM cap space and $12MM, or $14MM. The Sens are fine through to the end of Murray and Zaitsev’s contracts, and only the final year of White’s contract may be a hindrance, and there’s always the offseason to deal with White if they need space for signing Sanderson to his second contract, which happens after the Murray and Zaitsev contracts end.