The Oilers have bought out Ryan Spooner, which itself makes the trade for Ryan Strome that much more of a win for the Rangers and a laugher for the Oilers. Since the Rangers retained salary in the trade, the buyout impacts the Rangers in a few different ways.
- The Rangers now have $600,000 extra cap space to work with this year. It doesn’t seem like much, but every dollar matters when considering Artemi Panarin.
- The Rangers now get that extra retained contract trade back. Before the buyout, the Spooner trade counted as one of the three allowed.