With 2.65 million dollars locked up in Colin Greening, a unclaimed waiver wire player with just a single NHL point last season, he seems like the ideal buyout candidate. However, buying him out really doesn’t make much sense for the Senators.
Crazy, right? Well, maybe not.. and Senators GM Bryan Murray seems to agree, stating a few weeks back that he was unlikely to buyout the contract of Colin Greening.
Bryan Murray me dit en entrevue auj. qu'il n'a pas l'intention de racheter de contrat (Colin Greening, David Legwand). 1/2 #ledroit
— Marc Brassard (@mbrassard) May 27, 2015
Taking a look at Greening’s current salary and we see that he is going to take up 2.6m on the cap for the next two seasons. Not ideal for a player you can’t move, and certainly not ideal for someone who will likely play in the AHL. The two years term isn’t long, and swallowing the deal Murray signed Greening to is probably the best case scenario for the Senators.
The above comment doesn’t necessarily mean Murray still holds on to the idea of trading Greening, either. While his follow-up comment may suggest that, I think it is now about swallowing the contract, eating the two years and moving on from the player.
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Whether Greening is down in the AHL or even loaned to Europe is irrelevant, but given a buyout that will last 4 seasons vs paying up over 2, the dollars are still going to be paid and with Ottawa bound to have plenty of cap space over the next two seasons (pending other moves), a Greening buyout makes little to no sense.
That’s the idea, four years against the cap vs two. I’ll elect the latter and since the cap really doesn’t affect the Senators, in terms of real money being paid out, there is no benefit to buyout Greening this off-season. Jumping into the numbers on Greening’s contract provide a visual sense of this. Take a look below:
While the contract is ugly, what’s uglier is the negative cap hit Ottawa would have to take on past the point of Greening’s current deal. I’ll say it again, but the point to stress is that the Senators do not need the extra cap space these next two seasons, especially if other moves (David Legwand, Zack Smith, Craig Anderson, Jared Cowen, Chris Phillips, etc.) are made.
So while it may seem like the right move to make, it isn’t. Colin Greening should remain on the books and as a Senators fan, I would have no problem with that unless it means he still has a shot at making the NHL club. Let him play through training camp, but do not go out of your way to give the player a spot. In fact, perhaps a loan to Europe or full AHL season is best for both parties.
Greening is an ideal teammate and had appeared to have the makings of a solid top 9 player a few seasons ago. Sadly, those days are gone. While it would be nice to see him play in the NHL, the Senators have far better players available to play in Greening’s role, especially since Dave Cameron‘s system took over.
So, don’t expect Greening to be traded, or bought out. Rather, expect the Senators to eat the deal over the next two seasons, it makes the most sense.
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