Seattle’s Veleno, Tampa Bay’s Sheary placed on unconditional waivers

There was some activity on the NHL waiver wire on Sunday, as the Tampa Bay Lightning placed winger Conor Sheary while the Seattle Kraken placed center Joe Veleno on unconditional waivers.

The Lightning and Sheary intend to go through the process of contract termination, according to NHL insider Frank Seravalli.

Sheary appeared in just five regular season games with the Lightning this past season and did not record a point. While with the club in 2023-2024, he recorded 15 points in 57 games.

The veteran winger is a two-time Stanley Cup champion as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins, where he set a career high in points during the 2016-2017 campaign with 53 in 61 contests.

Sheary had one year left at $2 million on his current contract, and he’ll look to land a role as a regular when the free agency market opens on Tuesday.

Veleno’s time in Seattle now comes to an end before it even got started him, as the team just moved to acquire him in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks that sent winger Andre Burakovsky to the Windy City.

Assuming Veleno clears, the Kraken will buy the remainder of his contract out. Because he is under the age of 25, Seattle will have to pay him just one-third of the remaining value of his deal spread out over double the years remaining.

According to PuckPedia, the cap hit for the buyout will be $795,833 this season and $295,833 next year.

Veleno, the No. 30 overall pick in the 2018 NHl entry draft by the Detroit Red Wings, recorded 17 points in 74 games this season, the he split between Detroit and Chicago.

The Red Wings sent Veleno to the Blackhawks as part of a deal to bring goaltender Petr Mrazek back to Detroit, where he began his career over a decade ago.

Veleno will become an intriguing option for teams in need of center depth on the open market.