Patrick Marleau signed a three year contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs that doesn’t end until after next season. With Marner, Matthews, Kapanen, Johnson and Gardiner all needing to be signed next summer, his $6 million dollar cap hit is problematic.
In case you missed what happened last season, on June 23rd the Washington Capitals traded Brooks Orpik to the Colorado Avalanche along with Philipp Grubauer for a Second Round draft pick. Orpik was bought out of his last year at $5.5M shortly afterwards.
A few weeks after Free Agency started, Orpik signed with his old team (Washington Capitals) for $1M.