Speculation: Jonathan Huberdeau is open to waiving his NMC to go to a contender

[HogtownSabresfan]

I am curious about this as well. Can a player & team just decide to walk away from a contract if it's mutual?

Why on earth would he walk away from $10.5 M per year

 

[Rubi]

Do the Flames wish they were getting more value from Huberdeau? Absolutely. But I would argue that there are other players on other teams that have contracts that are much more damaging to the team than Huberdeau's is to the Flames. Darnell Nurse for example.
Right now Huby's contract has absolutely no effect on the Flames.. other than getting them over the cap floor.

 

[Maple Leaf]

uno reverso?
The Florida Panthers made a massive move late Friday night, trading for Calgary Flames winger Matthew Tkachuk. Calgary acquired forward Jonathan Huberdeau, defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, prospect Cole Schwindt and a lottery protected 2025 first-round pick in the deal, and it also sent a conditional 2025 fourth-round pick the Panthers' way.

 

[Bond]

I am curious about this as well. Can a player & team just decide to walk away from a contract if it's mutual?

As long as the team agrees to it. Zadina and the Wings did it

Do the Flames wish they were getting more value from Huberdeau? Absolutely. But I would argue that there are other players on other teams that have contracts that are much more damaging to the team than Huberdeau's is to the Flames. Darnell Nurse for example.
Right now Huby's contract has absolutely no effect on the Flames.. other than getting them over the cap floor.

The last couple years of his contract will be an issue if the Flames hit in their picks

 

[Rubi]

As long as the team agrees to it. Zadina and the Wings did it


The last couple years of his contract will be an issue if the Flames hit in their picks

A lot of years that would have been a problem.. especially for the last few years. However, the cap is predicted to go up by about $10M in the next two years. A conservative estimate would be $19-20M for the next 5 years. I'm not too worried about Huberdeau's $10M contract impact 5 years down the road.

 

[dirtydanglez]

that would be a tough sell

 

[JPeeper]

The last couple years of his contract will be an issue if the Flames hit in their picks

The last couple years will be irrelevant when the cap has increased by more than his current cap hit. Unless the Flames draft 3 McDavids, his cap hit will never be a problem. Quote it.

 

[dgibb10]

Do the Flames wish they were getting more value from Huberdeau? Absolutely. But I would argue that there are other players on other teams that have contracts that are much more damaging to the team than Huberdeau's is to the Flames. Darnell Nurse for example.
Right now Huby's contract has absolutely no effect on the Flames.. other than getting them over the cap floor.

His underperformance straight up ended their playoff contention window.

And will likely STILL be hurting them when their next window opens, unless they plan to suck for a decade

The last couple years will be irrelevant when the cap has increased by more than his current cap hit. Unless the Flames draft 3 McDavids, his cap hit will never be a problem. Quote it.

Unless the cap goes up to 300 million in the next 5 years, 10.5 mill for a guy who is likely going to be nothing more than a 30 point player who sucks defensively (especially if he can no longer be a power play weapon) in his mid/late 30s is likely going to be a significant negative impact.

 

[Rubi]

His underperformance straight up ended their playoff contention window.

And will likely STILL be hurting them when their next window opens, unless they plan to suck for a decade


Unless the cap goes up to 300 million in the next 5 years, 10.5 mill for a guy who is likely going to be nothing more than a 30 point player who sucks defensively (especially if he can no longer be a power play weapon) in his mid/late 30s is likely going to be a significant negative impact.

In 2020 he had 3 pts in 4 playoff games. In 2021 he had 10 pts in 6 games. In 2022 he had 5 pts in 10 games. You are cherry picking one playoff year.

With the Flames being in the beginning of a rebuild and their current cap being barely above the league minimum and the league salary cap increasing by unprecedented levels and the strong possibility that Andersson and Kuzmenko will be traded by the TDL for picks and prospects, not too many Flames fans are worried about the effect that Huberdeau's contract will have on the teams ability to stay under the maximum cap in 5 years.