Hurricanes buy out final year of Patrick Marleau’s contract

leafs-lightning

Toronto Maple Leafs center Patrick Marleau (12) celebrates with the bench. (Chris O'Meara/AP)

The Carolina Hurricanes have bought out the final year of Patrick Marleau‘s contract, the team announced on Thursday.

The Hurricanes acquired Marleau from the Toronto Maple Leafs on June 22. At the time of the trade, Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reported that Marleau was hoping to return to the San Jose Sharks after a buyout from the Hurricanes.

According to CapFriendly.com, the Hurricanes will be on the hook for Marleau’s $3-million signing bonus, a cap hit penalty of $6.25 million this season, and two-thirds of Marleau’s base salary divided over the next two seasons ($416,667 per year) because Marleau signed the contract after his age 35 season.

Marleau, 39, signed his three-year, $18.75-million contract with the Maple Leafs in the summer of 2017. Before that, the veteran forward had played 19 seasons with the Sharks. Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos reported in early June that Marleau’s family was moving back to San Jose and that he would like to be closer to them.

Once the buyout from the Hurricanes is complete, Marleau will become an unrestricted free agent. The deadline for teams to buy out players is June 30.

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