With four years left on his current contract and rumors swirling that he was on the trade block at the deadline, Marian Gaborik was an early candidate for a possible buyout to help the Los Angeles Kings cap situation—until today. In a press conference to introduce new head coach John Stevens, GM Rob Blake announced (via Helene Elliott of the LA Times) that Gaborik will not be bought out this summer. Instead, Blake explained that Gaborik had been playing hurt and has already undergone a procedure to fix whatever ailment was keeping him from being 100%.
While the injury may have been causing his struggles this year, the fact remains that Gaborik is now coming off back-to-back seasons with less than 25 points. The 35-year old has looked slow relative to his peers for two seasons, and it looks like the three-time 40-goal scorer is a thing of the (distant) past. At $4.875MM per season, he isn’t coming anywhere close to the production expected.
Because Gaborik’s deal is front-loaded, a buyout becomes more and more unattractive as the years go on. As the actual salary decreases, so does the amount of cap-hit you can save by buying him out, making it almost pointless. Next summer would be the last chance to really get any valuable relief out of a buyout, meaning Gaborik likely will be expected to play out the contract and try to provide at least some value to the Kings. The team made a similar decision last summer with regards to Dustin Brown, who remains a buyout candidate this summer to free up some space.
Blake and the Kings need to sort out their finances before next summer when the conversation will turn to a possible extension for Drew Doughty. Under control for two more seasons, the reigning Norris winner will need a Brent Burns-like extension in 2019 and the team will have to be able to sell him on their ability to compete in the near future. With both Brown and Gaborik on the books until 2022 and 2021 respectively, the team may need to look at a cap-eating team like Arizona or the newly constructed Vegas team for some relief.