It seems as though late July and early August is the time when New Jersey Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello likes to get his work done. After a relatively quiet start to his offseason, the boss of the Devils has signed a new head coach in Peter DeBoer, traded an albatross of a contract in Brian Rolston and signed his prized young forward, Zach Parise.
Devils Place Trent Hunter, Colin White On Waivers With Intention Of Buying Out Contracts
He continued making moves on Monday as the calendar flipped to August, waiving defenseman Colin White and forward Trent Hunter, the latter of which was the return from the New York Islanders in the Rolston trade. By waiving the two players, the Devils are announcing their intention to buy them out should they clear waivers, as expected.
Doing so would free up a considerable amount of cap space for the club. Hunter has two years and $2 million against the cap per year remaining on his contract according to CapGeek.com, while White has one year left on his deal worth $3 million against the cap.
As Tom Gulitti explains, though, it’s not as simple as “hey, the Devils have $5 million more in cap space now”...
If either player clears waivers at noon Tuesday without being bought out, the Devils would be able to buy them out at two third the total remaining value on their contract over twice the remaining years.
For White, the buyout would be $2 million with the cap hit spread over two years-or $1 million per year. For Hunter, the buyout price would $2,666,667 with the cap hit spread over four seasons-or $666,667 per season.
In total, the Devils would save $3,333,333 in cap space in the 2011-12 season. They already have approximately $2.5 million in cap space (depending upon which players are on the roster).
Giving Lamoriello money to play with could be fun. For more on the Devils, check in with SB Nation’s In Lou We Trust.
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