As they try to stay competitive in the Atlantic Division amid a brutal salary-cap crunch, the Bruins could move on from Mike Reilly.
The buyout window opened last Friday and closes June 30, and general manager Don Sweeney will have face-to-face discussions with his peers in Nashville next week around the NHL Draft (next Wednesday and Thursday).
The Bruins have approximately $5 million in cap space, according to CapFriendly, with 16 players on one-way contracts. The team’s offseason agenda includes dealing with restricted free agents Jeremy Swayman and Trent Frederic, who need raises (and are vulnerable to offer sheets). The Bruins would also love to have enough money to keep unrestricted free agent Tyler Bertuzzi. And if captain Patrice Bergeron wants to continue playing, the Bruins will need to pay him in something other than gratitude.
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A trade involving Reilly — a capable puck-moving defenseman at the NHL level who will turn 30 next month and is on an undesirable contract — would surely involve the Bruins attaching a draft pick, a prospect, or retaining salary.
Reilly spent most of last year buried in Providence as the Bruins failed to find a trade partner. The Bruins saved a pro-rated $1.125 million on their salary-cap ledger by sticking Reilly’s $3 million cap hit in the AHL.
If they buy him out, the Bruins will save $2.667 million next season. They would then incur a net charge of $1.334 million in 2024-25. However, it would not hurt as much by then. The salary-cap ceiling is projected to be $83.5 million next season, but $87.5 million in 2024-25 and some $92 million in 2025-26.
The Bruins have not bought out a contract since 2017, when they dropped the last season of Jimmy Hayes’s three-year, $6.9 million deal.
If Reilly is wondering where he’ll play next season, he may not be alone. Taylor Hall, who has a 10-team no-trade list, makes the kind of money ($6 million against the cap) that is at odds with his production (16-20—36 in 61 games). Defenseman Matt Grzelcyk was scratched twice in the postseason.
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Meanwhile, other teams are going the buyout route.
On Tuesday, the Coyotes bought out the final years on the contracts of defenseman Patrik Nemeth ($2.5 million) and forward Zack Kassian ($3.2 million), as part of the club’s bare-cupboard strategy. Arizona could seemingly add other teams’ problem contracts to reach the salary-cap floor ($61 million), which makes it a possible trade partner with Boston and other cap-tight clubs.
The other buyout, so far, came in Vancouver, where the Canucks cut ties with defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson. They shed the final four years of the soon-to-be 32-year-old’s contract, which averaged $8.25 million a season. It was painful. Vancouver will be hit with an average salary-cap charge of $2.1267 million over the next eight seasons. That figure inflates to $4.767 million in 2025-26 and 2026-27. Because the Coyotes retained salary when they traded Ekman-Larsson to the Canucks in July 2021, they will also incur a cap charge (an average of $290,000).
The Canucks, who have room for a veteran defensemen in light of Ethan Bear’s shoulder surgery and the Ekman-Larsson buyout, seem like a possible trade partner for the Bruins. They could be interested in adding Derek Forbort or Grzelcyk in exchange for younger, less expensive assets. Forbort has one year remaining at $3 million; Grzelcyk makes $3.875 million through 2030.
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The Bruins, who are bereft of draft capital — no first- or second-round picks in the next two drafts — would love to recoup picks if they offload proven players.
After the buyout, Ekman-Larsson will become an unrestricted free agent July 1. Two seasons ago, the Bruins had interest in the defenseman, his agent Kevin Epp making it public that Boston and Vancouver were his preferred trade destinations. It is unclear if it would be now, even at a drastically reduced price.
The left-shooting defenseman, arguably the Coyotes’ best player in the 2010s, set career highs in goals (23) in 2014-15 and points (55) in 2015-16. He hasn’t reached 30 points in the last three seasons, or 10 goals in the last four.
While not the offensive producer he was in Arizona, Ekman-Larsson handled tough defensive minutes in his first season in Vancouver. After rehabbing a broken foot last summer, Ekman-Larsson lost mobility and his game went in the tank. The Canucks were outscored, 59-37, when he was on the ice. That was the seventh-worst on-ice goal differential in the league among defenseman with more than 900 minutes (i.e., regulars) and worst on the Canucks.
Ekman-Larsson likes Boston — generally speaking, many European players do, given the climate, lifestyle, and availability of flights back home — and has experience playing with Hampus Lindholm on Team Sweden. Several other teams could be interested.
Given the Bruins’ current financial situation, even signing a veteran at a steep discount could be difficult.
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Matt Porter can be reached at matthew.porter@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter: @mattyports.