- Alex Jefferies filing for arbitration handed the Islanders a rare second buyout window that opens early this week
- Ondrej Palat is the only realistic buyout target, with one year and a $6 million cap hit left
- Read below for the cap math and the free agents New York could chase with the savings
The Islanders have a buyout decision to make, and the clock is already running.
A quirk in the calendar handed New York a second buyout window that opens early this week for just 48 hours. GM Mathieu Darche has one obvious name to weigh: Ondrej Palat.
The window exists because of an odd rule. Once the first buyout period closes, a team earns a second one if any of its restricted free agents file for arbitration. Stefen Rosner spelled out the setup at the end of June:
Islanders winger Alex Jefferies did exactly that on July 5, and the second window was locked in. New York later signed Jefferies to a new deal, but the buyout window stuck around.
Only players carrying a cap hit of $4 million or more can be bought out in this window. That takes Anthony Duclair ($3.5 million) and Pierre Engvall ($3 million) off the table. Palat is the one candidate who actually moves the needle.
Palat is 35 and coming off a brutal stretch. He scored just once in 29 games after the Islanders grabbed him from the Devils at the deadline, and he wasn’t much better in New Jersey before that. He has one year left at a $6 million cap charge.
The math is where it gets interesting. Cutting him loose would clear roughly $4.35 million for the coming season, while leaving $1.65 million in dead money on the books in 2027-28. For a club sitting less than $3 million under the ceiling, that kind of room opens real doors.
Those savings would give Darche actual money to spend up front. Vladimir Tarasenko, Michael Bunting, and Eeli Tolvanen are all still sitting on the open market, and each one projects to outscore what Palat gave New York last season.
Second buyout windows usually come and go without a sound. This one might not. Darche has a couple of days to decide whether a two-time Cup winner is worth more to the Islanders as a cap casualty than as a bottom-six body.
