Buy Bye...NHL buyouts

With the NHL's and NHLPA reaching a new collective bargaining agreement there was the option give for teams to buy two players out without penalty, basically a way to dump bad contracts and help the team clear cap space moving forward. This will be especially important next season when the cap drops from 70 million to 64.3 million. Teams will have to be much more cautious about giving big money to middle of the lineup players, the stars will clearly still get theirs, but this will no doubt lead to some sleepless nights from many GM's. However, the buyout option will help alleviate some financial pressure on teams. So, with help at the guys at cap geek (capgeek.com) lets take a look at players who have and may be bought out moving forward.

Scott Gomez - Gomez and his huge contract were originally signed by the Rangers but the dealt to the Habs.
                       They were hopeful he could help the offense but well, let's just say it didn't go as planned.
                       With the league allowing one accelerated buy out, meaning the team takes the cap hit for this
                       season but can go ahead and buy the player out, he has been given an opportunity to play for
                       someone, for a lot less money, but this beats being sent home or sitting in the press box.
                       There are rumours he may return to New Jersey, but there will likely be a number of clubs
                       looking for a veteran presence like Gomez.

Wade Redden - Another member of the 'Ranger Rule' club, Redden left Ottawa for the bright lights and big
                         bucks of Broadway but never showed the skills he displayed in the capital. Now with a new
                         lease on life he, like Gomez, will likely find a new home in the NHL at a much lower salary.
                         He would be a solid addition as a depth defense man and there are a number of teams
                         who will likely be interested.

Mike Komisarek - Komisarek is fortunate that the Leafs have lots of cap space next year so it's no
                             guarantee he'll be bought out, but if he doesn't have a bounce back year his over 4
                             million dollar cap hit may be moved out to make room for the Leafs up and coming
                             prospects or perhaps for them to make a splash in the trade market.

Shawn Horcoff - The Oilers signed their captain to a big deal ($5.5 cap hit per) so with a lot of young stars
                          coming along who will need to be signed, there is a chance his contract may be moved out
                          to make room for them. He's another proven veteran who would be a good leader on any
                          team and many would be interested provided  it's at a lower salary.              

Ilya Bryzgalov - Filed under the crazy but you never know category, Bryzgalov has been a solid netminder at
                         at times and terrible, by his own admission, at others. It's been a long time since the Flyers
                         have had any kind of consistent goaltending but if he's not able to turn things around one
                         never knows, even if his cap hit of 5.66 million per is under contract until 2019-20.

Rick DiPietro - It what may be one of the worst contracts in NHL history, Rick DiPietro the very injury
                        prone goalie of the New York Islanders is still under contract until the 2020-21 season with
                        a cap hit of 4.5 million per. This is a lot of money for a guy who has hardly played the last
                        few seasons due to injury problems. Again this would be a huge chunk of money but may be
                        the best for all involved moving forward.