With everyone off-season comes the inevitable “buyout XXXX player”. This year the biggest candidates for “buyout XXXX player” are Jimmy Hayes and Matt Beleskey. You can make a very good case for why both players should be bought out, but today I’m going to focus on everyone’s favorite Dorchester native not named Wahlberg.
You god damn right. We’re talking about Jimmy “I’m Not Kevin” Hayes.
Here are the rules regarding buyouts (from Capfriendly.com):
- Teams can buyout a contract and obtain a reduced cap hit.
- Depending on the age of the player when they are bought out, the buyout ratio varies.
- Two compliance buyouts were allowed in June 2013 and 2014, these buyouts do not have a salary cap consequence.
- On occasion, a buyout will result in a credit. This is indicated by a negative buyout cap hit.
And here’s the skinny on Hayes (from Capfriendly.com):
- Jimmy Hayes is 27 years old at the date of the buyout
- Salary remaining: $2,600,000
- The buyout ratio is 2/3, which results in a total buyout cost of $1,733,333
- There are 1 years remaining on this contract
- The buyout will be spread out over 2 years
- The annual buyout cost is $866,667
The cap hits for these two years? $566,667 in year one and $866,667 in year two.
I loathe the idea of buying players out. The effects of a bad buyout can linger against a team for what seems like an eternity (sup Rick DiPietro) and it makes the team carry an unneeded amount of cap space in years the player isn’t even on the roster. DiPietro, the pride of Winthrop, is the extreme example of why a buyout can hurt you. Removing $1.5M from your yearly salary cap before you can spend a dime is a hit.
For Hayes, the money isn’t that bad, especially in the first year. Here’s the thing you have to remember:
Dennis Seidenberg is already on a buyout with the Bruins. Seidenberg’s cap hit for the 2017-2018 season is $2,166,667 and then drops to $1,166,667 for the next two seasons. Adding Hayes’ $566,667 will bring the Bruins to a total of $2,733,334 in dead cap money for 17-18.
Look, I’m not here advocating that Jimmy Hayes is going to be a 30 goal scorer. Hell, I don’t think he’s a 20 goal scorer, but I think he’s a serviceable fourth line NHLer that could give you a little offensive pop at random times. I would like to think that the 5 points in 58 games this season is the outlier given he’s averaged about 27 points per season from 2013-2016.
When you look at the salary comparable to Jimmy Hayes (27 y/o), two players rate the closest:
Matt Calvert (27 y/o) of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Lance Bouma (27 y/o) of the Calgary Flames. (Who?)
Here are their lines:
Calvert: 65 games played, 10 goals, 5 assists, 15 points
Bouma: 61 games played, 3 goals, 4 assists, 7 points.
Not great, but it seems to be the going rate for a 27 year old who is going to get you around 20 points.
Keep going down that list.
Tommy Wingels, 29, $2,475,000 per season. Line: 7 goals, 5 assists, 12 points in 71 games.
Dwight King, 27 years old, $1,950,000 per season. Line: 9 goals, 7 assists, 16 points in 80 games.
Jimmy Hayes’ contract is in line with all of those. With a team that is about to come into about $10,000,000 in cap space (Capfriendly has $10,468,332), the Bruins can afford to sign Pastrnak and Accairi and whomever else they believe would fit in this system (and god dammit, not Kevin Shattenkirk).
It may suck, but paying $2,3000,000 now is better than paying a million less over two seasons.
Keep Hayes, pay him for this season and send him packing at the end of the season.
Or better wait, pray Vegas takes him.
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