Flyers Make First Buyout Moves

The Philadelphia Flyers became the first team to go to work under the NHL’s new collective bargaining agreement by buying out forwards John LeClair and Tony Amonte on Saturday.

Teams have until Friday to buy out existing contracts at two-thirds the value without those totals counting against the salary cap. Players who are bought out cannot re-sign with those teams.

LeClair has been one of the NHL’s top power forwards, but the Flyers decided that $6.84 million -- after the 24% player salary rollback -- was too much to pay a 36-year-old player whose best days are probably behind him. Amonte, who turns 35 Aug. 2, also fell into that category; he was to make $4.26 million this season.

The Flyers are among a group of teams that need to reduce payroll immediately.

They had committed nearly $34 million to 13 players and have seven restricted free agents to sign, including goalie Robert Esche and forward Simon Gagne.

Saturday also started a nine-day period in which teams have exclusive negotiating rights to their unrestricted free agents.

A handful of other teams will also need to make large cuts quickly, including Toronto ($27 million committed to eight players), Detroit ($32 million to 15 players), Colorado ($21 million to 10 players) and the New York Rangers (nearly $22 million to six players).

The Mighty Ducks had $20.5 million tied up in nine players, including Sergei Fedorov, who will make $6.08 million each of the next three seasons. They have eight restricted free agents, including defenseman Ruslan Salei and forward Rob Niedermayer.

The Kings have $15.6 committed to 12 players, room enough to pursue high-end free agents. They have six restricted free agents and are also expected to offer Luc Robitaille, an unrestricted free agent, a contract.

Officials from the Ducks and Kings have said that they would not buy out players.