On Thursday afternoon, the Pittsburgh Penguins announced that they had agreed upon a two-year, $6.4 million cap extension with forward Kasperi Kapanen.
Related: Penguins Re-Sign Kasperi Kapanen to 2-Year Contract Extension
While bringing Kapanen back into the fold was by no means a bad move by the Penguins, it does create some salary cap issues for them that they will have to resolve before the 2022-23 season begins. As things stand right now, they are roughly $480,000 over the maximum cap limit, which will result in at least one player on their roster either buying traded, or potentially bought out. According to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, the latter is the more likely option.
Seravalli suggested in a tweet on Thursday that the Penguins may be considering buying out the contract of either Jason Zucker or Marcus Petterson, as they have a 48-hour buyout window which begins in three days.
For Zucker, the 30-year-old was once one of the games more underrated goal scorers but has seen his play fall dramatically in recent seasons. He managed just eight goals and 17 points in 41 games in 2021-22 and is coming up on the final year of his contract which carries a $5.5 million cap hit. If the Penguins were to go this route it would save them roughly $3.46 million in cap space this season, though it would cost them $1.73 million for the 2023-24 season.
Pettersson, 26, is preparing to enter the third year of his five-year contract which carries a cap hit of roughly $4.025 million. After a breakout 2019-20 campaign, he has regressed in each of the past two seasons, particularly in 2021-22 where he averaged less than 16 minutes in ice time per game. Buying out his deal would save the Penguins roughly $2.70 million in cap space for the next three seasons, but would add $1.34 million on their books in the three afterward.
Next: Latest on Rumors Oilers Pursuing Patrick Kane Trade
