Jarmo Kekalainen continued his busy workday Wednesday afternoon, buying out the final two years of Fedor Tyutin’s six-year, $27 million deal.
“Fedor Tyutin is a pro in every sense of the word and has been an important player for the Columbus Blue Jackets for many years, but this decision is a result of the current depth on our blue line and to add some financial flexibility for our club moving forward,” Kekalainen said in a release. “I want to thank Fedor for his many contributions and wish he, his wife, Sarah, and their family all the best moving forward.”
The decision to buy out Tyutin came after signing fellow d-man Seth Jones to a big six-year, $34.2 million extension, one that carries a $5.4M average annual cap hit. The buyout will provide just under $3.3 million in cap relief this season, which the Blue Jackets desperately need -- after the Jones signing, they had around $42,000 in cap space.
Tyutin had a no-movement clause and a modified no-trade, hence Columbus going the buyout route (this saves them being forced to protect Tyutin at the expansion draft).
Jarmo on Tyutin and expansion draft: "No-move clauses have to be protected. ... Everybody can draw their conclusion from that."
— Stephen Whyno (@SWhyno) June 29, 2016
As for Tyutin himself, the 32-year-old will probably garner some interest on the open market. Though he struggled through a down ’15-16 campaign -- he only played in 61 games, and was made a healthy scratch by head coach John Tortorella -- there were reports of teams looking to add him at the trade deadline, specifically Detroit.
Looking ahead, it’ll be odd to see the Jackets without Tyutin in the mix. Acquired eight years ago, he’s been a fixture in the lineup and sits second on the club’s all-time games played list behind Rick Nash.
