Dan Rosen of NHL.com: (mailbag) Despite a flat salary cap again next season, don’t believe there will be a large number of buyouts for two reasons.
First, there is the expansion draft, so a team will get some relief there. Secondly, a buyout still can be costly to the cap and well as money paid out. They can help a team with getting cap compliant but it still costs them.
Teams may look to send players to the minors and get the $1.075 million in cap savings. Attaching an asset with a player is another route to clearing cap space.