Penguins Urged to Trade $22.5 Million Defenseman as Next Season Approaches

The Pittsburgh Penguins have made a strong start to the offseason with their entry draft and free agency signings, but despite this, several areas of concern still need to be addressed. General manager Kyle Dubas needs to find a way to move Ryan Graves' contract.

In 2023, the Penguins signed free agent defenseman Ryan Graves to a six-year, $4.5 million average annual value (AAV) contract, and needless to say, in the first two years of that deal, he has not lived up to the massive expectations.

He is due $4.5 million a year for the next four seasons. In 131 games, he has accumulated just 18 points and has spent most of the time on the third defense pair. The Penguins need to find a way to get rid of this brutal contract.

They can either trade him or buy him out. If they were to trade Graves, they could expect basically nothing in return, as it would be primarily a salary dump.

Another option is to buy out Graves' contract. A buyout works by paying two-thirds of the remaining salary over double the remaining length of the deal. If the Penguins were to buy him out, they would have to pay him $5,166,667 over eight years.

This option would save the Penguins around $5 million over the next four seasons, but then would cost them $645,833 a season from 2029 until 2033, further complicating matters.

It would also be nice for the Penguins to wash their hands completely of Graves by trading him away instead of buying him out.