Canucks are preparing for buyouts and a first name is listed

The Canucks have their loads of contract not aging well. While the cap is only expected to go up by a million the Canucks have now found themselves tied up in a situation where to much money is attribued to players that aren't performing.

The first name that comes to mind when talking not playing up to their worth, Tyler Myers, who only has a year remaining on his contract with a $6M AAV. Though it appears he won't be the first one, since $5M of his yearly $6M salary will be paid in bonus. Leaving only $1M to be paid over the year with a $6M, which will be extremely interesting for team that need help reaching the cap floor (ie: Arizona). So there might be a trade market for Myers after July 1st.

The second contract taking too much money for not enough performance is OEL's. Arizona still retains $990K of his salary, leaving his cap hit at $7.26M. Thing is, there's still 4 and a half years remaining to this contract. Making a OEL buy out extremely expensive. It would represent over $20M in cap hit spent over the next 8 years, which the Nucks definitely can't afford.

Dhaliwal revealed who the Canucks aimed for their first buyout and it seems that Conor Garland is their prime candidate at this point. The small forward he has 3 and a half year at a $4.95M AAV. At the moment, he‘s currently on pace for 39 points. His career-worst points per game ratio.



Buying out the remainder of his contract would impact the Canucks caps for the next 6 years at a $1.88M AAV. Which would therefore give the Canucks a little over $3M in cap space. Since his arrival Garland has been one of the best 5-on-5 player in the team, but it seems that if they fail to find a trade partner for the 26-year-old American, he will be making a tough decision.

Is Garland the player you must buy out to shed salary off the cap?