We’re taking a quick pause from our player reviews to take a look at a potential buyout. With the completion of the Stanley Cup Finals, the buyout window is about to open. Per league rules, the buyout window opens 48 hours after the final game of the Finals, which means later today. San Jose Sharks General Manager Mike Grier has said he has no plans to buy anyone out. However, if he were inclined to consider a buyout, Marc-Edouard Vlasic would be the first contract on that list.
Vlasic’s contract with the Sharks
Vlasic is 37 years old and has two years left on a deal that has an AAV of $7 million per season.
However, that’s not the money owed to him. Vlasic’s contract was front-loaded. He’ll be paid $7 million in the 2024-25 season ($4,500,000 in base salary and $2,500,000 in bonuses) and $5,500,000 in the 2025-26 season ($3,500,000 in salary and $2,000,000 in bonuses).
It’s structured so that the contract is a little easier to swallow for a team, whether it’s the Sharks or another team. The trouble with Vlasic’s contract is the AAV. At this point, no team wants to take on the $7 million AAV for Vlasic unless there’s a massive pot sweetener.
With some of the bigger contracts (Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns and Tomas Hertl) already moved, San Jose isn’t at the point of its rebuild where trading away assets to get more cap room makes sense.
This is the long way of saying that the only way the Sharks get out from underneath Vlasic’s deal is to buy him out.
What would a Vlasic buyout look like?
If the Sharks were to buyout Vlasic, the savings wouldn’t be much, according to CapFriendly. The team would still have to pay all of the bonuses. Since Vlasic is 37 years old, his buyout price is 2/3 of his salary. That means the Sharks would only save $2,666,667 in total over the next four years.
It might be worth it if that were the only downside of the buyout. But in addition to having to pay a majority of the remaining salary and all of the bonuses, the Sharks would also be saddled with Vlasic’s contract for double the time.
If the team were to buy him out during this buyout window, the contract would count against San Jose’s salary cap through the 2027-28 season.
Look at what happens when you compare Vlasic’s buyout cap hit to his regular cap hit over the next few seasons:
| Season | Buyout Cap Hit | Current Cap Hit |
| 2024-25 | $3,833,333 | $7,000,000 |
| 2025-26 | $4,833,333 | $7,000,000 |
| 2026-27 | $1,333,333 | $0 |
| 2027-28 | $1,333,333 | $0 |
Ultimately, a buyout doesn’t save San Jose much cap space over the next few seasons and actually hurts the Sharks more in the 2026-28 seasons.
San Jose’s cap space for 2024-25
As of June 25, the Sharks have 16 players on a 23-man roster signed. CapFriendly reports the Sharks have approximately $58,670,834 in committed salary to those 16 players, leaving about $29,329,166 in cap space.
These numbers include Vlasic’s contract and the recent addition of Jake Walman. They don’t include RFAs like Thomas Bordeleau, Luke Kunin, Henry Thrun, Ty Emberson and more, who are all due raises.
The current cap also excludes some of the prospects who could jump to the NHL next season, such as Quentin Musty, presumptive number one overall pick Macklin Celebrini and Shakir Mukhamadullin. Even if you take those contracts into account, you won’t come close to next season’s cap.
What’s more, with the current contracts on the books, including Vlasic’s, the Sharks are still below the $65 million cap floor. Adding Musty, Celebrini (if the Sharks draft him) and Mukhamadullin would get the team close, but the Sharks will still be short.
Taking out Vlasic’s contract this season via buyout might actually hurt the team rather than help it from a cap standpoint.
San Jose’s roster space for 2024-25
That said, removing Vlasic from the roster could help the Sharks later in the season. There are a lot of young defensemen waiting in the prospect pipeline, especially on the left-hand side.
The Sharks just added left defenseman Walman. The team already has Mario Ferraro and is also expected to re-sign Henry Thrun. That’s four left defensemen expected to start in the NHL next season. It doesn’t leave a lot of room for left defensive prospects like Mukhamadullin, Luca Cagnoni, Valtteri Pulli and Jake Furlong to make the jump to the NHL.
Maybe the biggest issue with keeping Vlasic on the roster is that it could block younger players from moving up when the time is right.
Should the Sharks buyout Vlasic?
So putting it all together, there’s minimal money savings in buying out Vlasic. $2,666,667 total cash savings.
There’s also limited help in the cap arena, considering that the Sharks are already below the cap floor and actually need to add more cap to get to that floor.
The only true argument for buying out Vlasic is to make room on the roster. His no-trade clause, even modified, prevents the team from putting him on waivers for the purpose of sending him down to the AHL. That means, the Sharks need to find another way to free up that roster spot, if necessary.
One option is the press box. While the NTC prevents the Sharks from sending Vlasic down, it does not prevent the team from healthy scratching the veteran defenseman. A consistent healthy scratch might force Vlasic into offering the team an out, either through contract termination or early retirement. This method appears to be the only feasible way the Sharks get out of Vlasic’s contract before it expires.
Like it or not, we’ve reached the point where buying out Vlasic may hurt the Sharks more than it helps.
