Originally Posted by Carcillo

I don't think there's any predefined rules for that. Just look at Tim Thomas situation. Bruins can't declare the contract as void. They can suspend the player and not have to pay anything to him. They could also do as Nashville did with Radulov and extend the year the player owes to the team when the player wants to return to NHL. But they can't immediately just get rid of the deal like it's never happened.

In your example, if the team wouldn't want the player back I guess they could take it to arbitration. Or trade the player. But not sure they can just flat out refuse to have anything to do with that final year of the deal. The players have it really good with their guaranteed contracts in NHL.