Panthers buy-out Keith Yandle, making him a free agent

According to multiple online reports the Florida Panthers will buy out the final two seasons of defenseman Keith Yandle's contract worth $6.35 million per season. The Panthers will be dinged a reduced cap hit over the next four seasons that looks like this:

2021-22: $2.3M
2022-23: $5.4M
2023-24: $1.2M
2024-25: $1.2M

Suffice it to say that that's a tough pill for the Panthers to swallow, particularly in year two, but to be fair this isn't a team that typically spends to the upper limit of the salary cap anyways. It remains to be seen how it will affect their budget moving forward.

As for Yandle, the 34 year old smooth skating offensively minded blueliner will hit the open market as an unrestricted free agent later this month. He put up three goals and 27 points in 56 games for the Panthers this past season, but he clearly fell out of favor with head coach Joel Quenneville. As a result he had his ice time limited, specifically on the powerplay where he is most effective. Yandle was also made a healthy scratch during the Panthers' opening round Stanley Cup Playoff series against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Prior to Quenneville's arrival in Florida Yandle was a perennial 40+ point defenseman, even hitting 50+ points on multiple occasions and an incredible 62 point season in 2018-19. In other words, the guy can still put points up on the board. He'll never be mistaken for a gritty shutdown defenseman in his own end, but he's good in transition and can help bolster a team's powerplay unit like few other players in the NHL. If all of this is making you wonder why on Earth the Edmonton Oilers spent real assets via trade and then committed $11 million to Duncan Keith over the next two years, you're not alone. I  mean... if Oilers GM Ken Holland had waited just 48 hours before making the Keith trade he would have found two capable veterans in Yandle and longtime Minnesota Wild blueliner Ryan Suter on the open market. The cost to acquire either of these two players would have been much, much less than the cost and cap hit that Holland spent on Keith.