The thinking behind buying out a player from his contract is simple, the team would buy out the player and then use the salary cap savings to re-capitalize into another forward. In practice though buyouts are not as simple and often come with a heftier price than keeping the player you are buying out, and the Minnesota Wild would be smart to remember that this offseason.
The idea of taking highly paid player who might not be producing at the level that his contract dictates, is great conceptually. However, the CBA is written to protect not only team interests, but a player’s interests as well.