The Carolina Hurricanes have bought out the remainder of Patrick Marleau’s contract less than a week after acquiring him in a trade.
The team announced the decision Thursday.
Toronto sent the 39-year-old forward to Carolina on Saturday seeking salary-cap relief in a deal that included the Maple Leafs’ first-round draft pick going to the Hurricanes for next year. That move saved Toronto $6.25 million US in cap space.
Marleau was entering the final season of an $18.75 million, three-year contract he signed with Toronto in free agency. He spent the first 19 of 21 NHL seasons in San Jose.
Nylander can relate to Marner contract talks
If anyone knows what the talented winger is feeling as Mitch Marner inches closer to hitting restricted free agency, it’s William Nylander. He was the last Toronto forward to go through what can be a challenging and emotionally draining exercise — one that, for him, dragged agonizingly into last December.
“It’s always a tough process, but in the end it will work out for both sides,” Nylander said Thursday during the NHLPA Golf Classic. “It was hard. It was always going back and forth (and) sometimes there’s no talking at all.
“That’s just a part of negotiations.”
It’s difficult to know how talks between Marner and the Leafs are going, with neither side publicly providing any information of substance, but the fact the two camps have been unable to come to an agreement with free agency set to open Monday has to be concerning from a Toronto perspective.
“I’ve talked to him a little bit,” Nylander said of Marner. “It’s just the beginning of summer. You’ve got a lot more time to go, so there’s no worries.”
Nylander eventually signed a six-year, $45-million contract to end an impasse that cost him the first two months of last season, but he said speaking face-to-face with Kyle Dubas when the GM flew to Europe was what really got the ball rolling.
“That was a big part of it,” Nylander said. “We were kind of at a standstill.”