Veteran winger Matt Cooke was placed on waivers by the Minnesota Wild on Thursday, the Star Tribune reports.

If Cooke clears waivers the Wild will buy-out the final year of his contract, thus saving the team about $2 million in salary cap space. Two-thirds of Cooke's salary would be paid to him over the next two seasons.

Minnesota's salary cap this year would increase to $12 million.

“In order to give our team more salary cap flexibility for the upcoming season we needed to make this difficult decision,” General Manager Chuck Fletcher said in a statement. “We thank Matt for his time with the Wild and wish him the best going forward.”

The 36-year-old Cooke tallied 10 points during an injury-plagued 2014 in which he was limited to 29 games.