Maple Leafs place D Jared Cowen on waivers for buyout

The Maple Leafs have placed defenseman Jared Cowen on waivers with the intent on buying him out. 

When the Toronto Maple Leafs traded Dion Phaneuf back in February, everyone wondered why the Leafs insisted that Jared Cowen be involved in the trade. Cowen was expected to be bought out, and now that the buyout period has begun, the Leafs have placed him on waivers with the intent on buying him out, according to SportsCentre.

There is much more to this buyout than meets the eye. Whenever a buyout is done, it is usually done to save money and/or get rid of a bad contract. Usually the team has to spread out the remaining money on the salary over twice the remaining length of the deal. They are still responsible for his cap hit. However, Cowen’s situation is very unique. By buying him out, the Leafs actually save money.

This is important for a team like the Maple Leafs. They need every bit of cap space as they can get so that they can potentially take advantage of teams like the Chicago Blackhawks who need to get rid of salary. Considering that the Carolina Hurricanes were able to talk the Blackhawks into including Teuvo Teravainen in the Bryan Bickell trade, the Leafs could further improve their prospect system by taking on some bad contracts.

Toronto has the money necessary to take on paying Cowen $1.5 million over the next two seasons in order to acquire some more cap space. With Cowen’s situation being very unique, Toronto found a way to capitalize on it.

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