This.
Chant it with me people. Buyout! Buyout!
People keep on saying that the Blue Jackets aren't up against the cap. That isn't relevant as it relates to the Jackets. We all know the Jackets lose money hand over fist. They can't and shouldn't spend up to the cap ceiling. Also don't forget that the cap limit will be coming down. Anyone really think that in his current incarnation that RJ can really last five more seasons in the NHL? The Jackets will have dead money attached to the Umberger contract; it's a certainty. With it being only a matter of when why not do it now? The money and cap space from Umberger's contract could be better used on two 30-40 point wingers as opposed to one. It makes more business sense and more sense on the ice. If you're a GM you're looking to purchase points. Do you want 60-80 points at the cost of 4.6 million or should you go ahead and settle for the 30-40 at 4.6 per year. And just because there are other bad contracts out there in the NHL is a ridiculous argument to keep Umberger. Just because there are other train wreck contracts out there doesn't make RJ's any less of a rubbernecker or any less illogical.
You're all over the place here. So what you're saying is that the Jackets aren't going to be a cap team, but we should use RJ's cap space for other players? And that we can buy him out and get two 30-40 pt wingers with the leftover $? You do realize that a buyout means that you pay Umberger 2/3 of the $, meaning there would only be $1.5 million per leftover?
To my mind there are only two viable arguments in favor of a buyout, both of which might be false:
1) Ownership wants a player payroll higher than the cap.
2) Umberger is so bad, he isn't worth having on the roster even for $1.5 million per, and we should take that $1.5 and spend it on someone else.
I'll believe (1) when I hear it from ownership. And I'm slowly coming to think that (2) might be the new reality, but I'd give him another year to see if he can turn it around.