Flyers Buy Out R.J. Umberger

2:37 PM: The Flyers have officially announced that they have bought out the final year of Umberger’s contract.  Because Umberger had a no-movement clause in his contract, he was eligible to elect to bypass the waiver process and immediately be bought out which he did.

11:12 AM: TSN’s Frank Seravalli tweets that the Flyers are likely to buy out the contract of forward R.J. Umberger. The year remaining comes with a cap hit of $4.6MM. CSN Philly’s Tim Panaccio tweeted later that general manager Ron Hextall confirmed that the club was in the process of the buyout.

According to CapFriendly, the buyout will keep $1.6MM on the books for the 2016-2017 season and $1.5MM for the 2017-2018 season. The deal saves them $3MM.

The 34-year-old struggled to live up to the expectations of his contract. Signed by the Blue Jackets in 2012, Umberger was shipped to the Flyers with a draft pick for Scott Hartnell in 2014. Umberger never come close to scoring 20 goals as he did earlier in his career. As his production waned, a buyout became more likely.