It is becoming more apparent that Wade Redden and Scott Gomez maybe playing hockey this season after all. The NHL and NHLPA have agreed to a second window for compliance amnesty buyouts on contracts.
According to TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun of ESPN.com, teams can use an “accelerated compliance buyout” on one player with a salary cap hit of $3 million or more before the regular season begins on Saturday.
However, it comes with a catch. Teams using their accelerated compliance buyout this week will have to take their player’s entire cap hit for the 2013 season, even if the player signs with another team as a UFA. But, for future seasons the cap hit would come off the books.
This ruling is in response to the situation the Rangers and Canadiens found themselves in with Redden and Gomez. Both players are due large amounts of money over the next two seasons. Redden has a cap hit of $6.5 million while Gomez’s cap hit is $7.35 million.
Get your NHL Tickets
Both teams respectively told their players to stay home, not to risk injury, in order to buy them out in summer. Under the new CBA, injured players cannot be bought out.
If the Rangers and Canadiens were to buyout their respective players, they would pay out 100 per cent of a player’s actual salary this year and two-thirds or one-third over twice the remaining term of the contract. Once the player is bought out from his contract and clears waivers, he is free to sign elsewhere.
The problem now arises is what do teams do with them now. It seems that the amended rule puts the onus on the team to be a nice guy and release the player from the contract. But the teams could reconsider buying the player out just in case he gets picked up by a rival team.
In the new collective bargaining agreement, teams were permitted two compliance buyouts after this season or next season. However, if teams use the accelerated compliance buyout they will be only left with one to use over the next two off-seasons.
Notes
- Each team is still only permitted two compliance buyouts. TSN’s Bob McKenzie via Twitter noted they have to happen before Saturday, or in the summers of either 2013 or 2014.
- Clubs will pay 100 percent on the buyouts for this year, not two thirds
- Players like Redden and Gomez will not become unrestricted free agents until the team waives them and they clear waivers.
Whats Your Verdict?
