NHL Screws Over the Coyotes With a New Rule

Today former Arizona Coyotes captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson was bought out by the Vancouver Canucks. While it does not look like this affects the Coyotes at all, it has a massive effect on their ability to rebuild.

The Coyotes acquire many picks through 3rd team retention which has the Coyotes retain 25% of a player's salary so two teams can broker a deal at the trade deadline. Typically, they receive a mid-round pick but if the contract is large enough, they could receive up to a first-rounder.

However, the buyout of Ekman-Larsson will be screwing the Coyotes as they are limited to retaining only three players at a time. They currently are retaining on Ekman-Larsson's contract by 12% but with the buyout, they will now have to pay him for the next 8 years instead of the next 4.

This means that for the next 8 years, Ekman-Larsson will be getting a cheque of $290,000 from the Coyotes eventually totaling $2.32 million.

This is brutal for the Coyotes as it limits them to not being able to do anything with that 3rd contract slot despite paying less than the league minimum on the contract.

This could potentially handicap them out of 8 mid-round picks which certainly have a valuation of over $2.32 million.