Compliance buyout

Compliance buyouts (sometimes referred to as amnesty buyouts) allow National Hockey League teams to buy-out a player's contract by paying him two-thirds of the remaining value of a contract over twice the remaining length of the contract. If the player is under 26 years old, then the team may pay the player just one-third of the remaining contract value. In ordinary-course buyouts the team's NHL salary cap hit for the player is stretched over a period of twice the remaining length of the contract. Compliance buyouts follow the same formula as ordinary-course buyouts but do not count against the cap.

Due to the 2012–13 NHL lockout, the salary cap was not to increase to the projected $70.2 million, so each team was therefore granted two compliance buyouts to be exercised after the 2012–13 season and/or after the 2013–14 season that would not count against the salary cap in any further year in order to better comply with a lower than expected cap value, regardless of the player's age. After using an compliance buyout on a player, that player is prohibited from rejoining the team that bought him out for one year; the NHL deemed that the re-signing of a player following a trade and a subsequent compliance buyout would be ruled as cap circumvention.

Following the 2012–13 NHL lockout each team was granted one accelerated compliance buyout in order for teams to meet the lowered salary cap. This could be used on a player with a salary cap hit of $3 million U.S. or more before the regular season began. If an accelerated compliance buyout is used, that team will only have one more compliance buyout left, and they must use it after the completion of the 2012-13 season (and before the start of 2013-14 season). The player's cap hit is applied in full to the team's salary cap for the 2012-13 season, but for no season after, regardless of contract length.

Available during the off-season in 2013 and 2014, amnesty buyouts begin 48 hours after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals.

In 2013, it began 48 hours after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup, and ended on July 4, 2013. The second NHL compliance buyout period opened on June 16, 2014 and runs through June 30, 2014, with 26 teams having one or more compliance buyout available to be used.

List of compliance buyouts

The following is an unofficial list of all the compliance buyouts that have been used:

Team	Player	Date	Length	Amount	References
Buffalo Sabres	Leino, VilleVille Leino	02014-06-18 June 18, 2014	06 6 years	$7,333,333
	Ehrhoff, ChristianChristian Ehrhoff	02014-06-29 June 29, 2014	14 years	$12,000,000
Calgary Flames	O'Brien, ShaneShane O'Brien	02014-06-30 June 30, 2014	02 2 years	$1,466,667
Chicago Blackhawks	Montador, SteveSteve Montador	02013-06-27 June 27, 2013	04 4 years	$2,733,333
	Olesz, RostislavRostislav Olesz	02013-06-27 June 27, 2013	02 2 years	$2,833,333
Dallas Stars	Rome, AaronAaron Rome	02014-06-17 June 17, 2014	02 2 years	$1,066,667
Detroit Red Wings	Colaiacovo, CarloCarlo Colaiacovo	02013-07-03 July 3, 2013	02 2 years	$1,900,000
	Tootoo, JordinJordin Tootoo	02014-06-18 June 18, 2014	02 2 years	$1,333,333
Edmonton Oilers	Belanger, EricEric Belanger	02013-07-04 July 4, 2013	02 2 years	$833,333
Florida Panthers	Jovanovski, EdEd Jovanovski	02014-06-30 June 30, 2014	02 2 years	$2,666,667
Minnesota Wild	Gilbert, TomTom Gilbert	02013-07-03 July 3, 2013	02 2 years	$2,000,000
Montreal Canadiens	Gomez, ScottScott Gomez 1	02013-01-15 January 15, 2013	03 3 years	$3,000,000
	Kaberle, TomasTomas Kaberle	02013-06-28 June 28, 2013	02 2 years	$3,000,000
New Jersey Devils	Hedberg, JohanJohan Hedberg	02013-07-04 July 4, 2013	02 2 years	$933,333
	Volchenkov, AntonAnton Volchenkov	02014-06-30 June 30, 2014	04 4 years	$5,666,667
New York Islanders	DiPietro, RickRick DiPietro	02013-07-03 July 3, 2013	16 years	$24,000,000
New York Rangers	Redden, WadeWade Redden 1	02013-01-17 January 17, 2013	03 3 years	$3,333,333
	Richards, BradBrad Richards	02014-06-20 June 20, 2014	12 years	$20,666,667
Philadelphia Flyers	Briere, DanielDaniel Briere	02013-06-26 June 26, 2013	04 4 years	$3,333,333
	Bryzgalov, IlyaIlya Bryzgalov	02013-06-26 June 26, 2013	14 years	$23,000,000
San Jose Sharks	Havlat, MartinMartin Havlat	02014-06-27 June 27, 2014	02 2 years	$4,000,000
Tampa Bay Lightning	Lecavalier, VincentVincent Lecavalier	02013-06-27 June 27, 2013	14 years	$32,666,667
	Malone, RyanRyan Malone	02014-06-25 June 25, 2014	02 2 years	$1,666,667
Toronto Maple Leafs	Komisarek, MikeMike Komisarek	02013-07-02 July 2, 2013	02 2 years	$2,333,333
	Grabovski, MikhailMikhail Grabovski	02013-07-04 July 4, 2013	08 8 years	$14,333,333
Vancouver Canucks	Ballard, KeithKeith Ballard	02013-07-03 July 3, 2013	04 4 years	$5,600,000
	Booth, DavidDavid Booth	02014-06-17 June 17, 2014	02 2 years	$3,166,667
Washington Capitals	Schultz, JeffJeff Schultz	02013-07-03 July 3, 2013	02 2 years	$2,000,000

Notes

1. Accelerated compliance buyout

References

• NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement reference: Section 50.5 (c-iii-A )(P. 205-208)