There’s an interesting rule in the NHL when it comes to retaining salary in a trade where the player who is dealt is ultimately bought out. In other words, if Team A retains salary in a trade to Team B and then that player is bought out by Team B, Team A is on the hook and will lose a salary retention spot for the duration of the buyout.
Take, for example, the recent Oliver Ekman-Larsson buyout. According to CapFriendly, the Arizona Coyotes are going to be kicked in the gut by the Vancouver Canucks because of the Canucks’ decision to buy out the veteran blueliner. Because the Coyotes retained salary on the defenseman when he was dealt to Vancouver, both the Canucks and Coyotes lost a salary retention slot. CapFriendly explains, “The Coyotes will lose one of their 3 retained salary (RS) slots for the next 8 years. We recently learned that a buyout on an RS contract results in the original team losing an RS slot for the whole buyout duration.”
If you’re asking why or how this might affect the Edmonton Oilers, it’s a theoretical problem if the team is looking to move Jack Campbell.
How This Rule Might Affect a Campbell Trade
Campbell just completed the first year of a five-year deal with the Oilers. It didn’t go incredibly well. With rumors that Connor Hellebuyck or John Gibson might be available in trade this summer, the Oilers are among a handful of teams being linked in rumors to both netminders. Both deals might be a long shot, but this salary retention buyout rule won’t help. The reality is, Edmonton would have to trade Campbell to make adding one of these two netminders work. A likely outcome to get the best possible trade on Campbell is to retain salary.
That poses a problem if Campbell goes somewhere and isn’t good. With four seasons remaining at $5 million per season, he becomes a buyout candidate and that would mean the loss of a retention spot for four additional seasons if Campbell is bought out. This also poses an issue if the team acquiring Campbell does so with the immediate intent to buy him out. It feels like a stretch, but it’s not impossible.
Related: Oilers Have Plan A, B, & C for Offseason Right Wing Addition
Campbell’s contract is an attractive option for a buyout and the savings would be significant. In the first year, the club would save over $3.4 million. In year two, $3.8 million. It drops to $2.6 million and just under $2.4 million in years three and four, and the savings go away in years five through eight. The cap hit during the buyout period is highest in years three and four at $2.3 million and $2.6 million respectively. And, in the first year — the one to really be cautious of because of a lower salary cap ceiling — the cap hit is only $1.5 million.
How This Could Theoretically Work Against the Oilers
Let’s say the Oilers want to do a deal to move Campbell so they can trade for Hellebuyck. They find a team willing to take Campbell on, but the Oilers have to retain 10 percent of the $5 million on Campbell’s final four seasons. Based solely on the rules of retaining salary in any deal, that would mean one of Edmonton’s three retention spots is gone for four years. But, it’s a bigger problem if Campbell is then bought out.
Let’s say, for the sake of argument, it’s the San Jose Sharks that take Campbell. They can afford to buy Campbell out because they’re rebuilding and have tons of cap space. He’s probably not going to be a factor for them in the next three seasons when they’re not any good. Should they buy him out, that adds another four years of salary retention and four years where the Oilers are down a spot.
While this might not affect a team like Edmonton in the way that it does Arizona — who is in the business of taking bad contracts or retaining salary for draft picks and prospects — three salary retention spots are not a lot. It certainly forces the Oilers to think twice if they’re contemplating moving a player who has decent odds of being bought out by the team that trades for him.
What Is The Solution?
If the Oilers are going to trade Campbell, either make sure it’s for his whole contract and do not retain anything in the move. Or, if you trade him, trade him to a team that wouldn’t likely buy him out. That could mean targeting teams that are already using a couple of salary retention spots or dealing with a franchise that almost never buys out contracts. It’s the safest way to trade a player who was overpaid for too long a term and could be dumped by a team that realizes they don’t need his contract on the books.
If the Oilers can’t trade the entirety of Campbell’s contract, the best play might just be to keep him.
