The Minnesota Wild and Montreal Canadiens have taken some money off the books, announcing the buyouts for Tyler Ennis and Steve Mason respectively. Both players now become unrestricted free agents and can sign with any club.
In Ennis, the Wild free up $2.2MM from their salary cap for this year. Ennis was in the last year of his deal in which he was going to receive $4.6MM. Acquired from Buffalo last offseason, Ennis got in almost a full season, but failed to put up impressive numbers as he finished the year with eight goals and 22 points. With new GM Paul Fenton in charge, he didn’t waste too much time determining that Ennis’ deal wasn’t worth Ennis’ inability to put up points.
As for Mason, the Canadiens picked him up Sunday in a trade in which they acquired Mason, Joel Armia and two draft picks for AHL prospect Simon Bourque. Mason also one year on his deal at $4.1MM, but with Antti Niemi and Charlie Lindgren along with talent in their system, Mason was expendable. The team will take a cap hit of $1.367 over the next two years.