In the NHL, terming a contract isn’t something that happens regularly. But the Buffalo Sabres could get rid of Eric Comrie during the buyout window.
In the NFL, you can, for the most part, term any contract that you’d like at any given time. Sure, stipulations exist that may not make doing so a wise decision, but it’s done regularly. In the NHL, things work differently, as you can’t just cut a player. But there is a window where you can let a player out of their contract, and in 2023, it lasts from Friday, June 16th until Friday, June 30th.
And the Buffalo Sabres have one player on the roster whose contract they may be willing to buy out, and that’s the contract of goaltender Eric Comrie, who signed a two-year deal last July with an AAV of $1.8 million. The Blue and Gold would save an additional $1.2 million, per Michael Augello of Yardbarker, and while the Sabres don’t need the space, they could still use it to acquire either a top-four defenseman or a goaltender to a larger deal.
Will the Buffalo Sabres buy out Eric Comrie’s contract?
At this point, the Sabres have Devon Levi and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen on the roster. And the younger players have been in the system for quite some time, with Levi coming over in the Sam Reinhart trade and Luukkonen as the team’s second round pick in 2017.
Having grown up in the Sabres system for the most part, Levi and Luukkonen would naturally get the nod over Comrie, who struggled last season, posting a 9-9-1 record, 3.67 GAA, an 0.886 save percentage, and a 0.421 quality starts percentage. Further, the Sabres could always bring in a veteran goaltender to pair with Levi, and that could end up making Luukkonen expendable to being traded and Comrie with no chance of earning a roster spot.
Therefore, a buyout is likely, but the Sabres may want to hang on to Comrie and place him on waivers before the season begins, which will send him to Rochester. This move would also make sense, as if injuries strike the goaltender position, then the Buffalo Sabres could call up the familiar face in Comrie. The risk, however, is that if he doesn’t pass through waivers, then Buffalo would need to make a contingency plan.
Source: What Could The Sabres Get In Return For Olofsson? by Michael Augello, YardBarker.com
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)