One of the most interesting parts of the new NHL CBA – THANK GOD IT’S FINALLY DONE – is the introduction of “compliance buyouts.” Contract buyouts have been around for a while, but this new variety, which are designed to help teams get under the cap in 2013-14 when it falls by six or so million dollars, are different insofar as there is no cap penalty.
Under the old system, when a contract was bought out, the team saved money, but still had a portion of the deal (1/3 if the player is over 26 years old) count against the cap for twice as long as the contract was originally slated to last. The compliance buyouts are not different in terms of raw dollars going out the door, but unlike the old buyouts they come off the cap immediately.
In short, the compliance buyouts are a get out of jail free card for GMs that handed out long-term idiotic contracts (see: DiPietro, Rick). Pay the player, wish him well and forget the whole thing ever happened.
The Penguins are lucky (smart) not to have any anchors like DiPietro or Wade Redden weighing them down, but with Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Brooks Orpik up for extensions, and raises, in the near future and the cap set to fall, they will need to scrounge up cash wherever they can. So who can they cut?
