Way, way back after the 2004-05 lockout, the National Hockey League and the players’ association hammered out a new collective bargaining agreement. As part of that agreement, they introduced a structure for conducting contract buyouts.

Once a year – twice if a team has salary arbitration cases – teams have a window to buy out contracts. Over the 20 years that the modern buyout process has existed, the Calgary Flames have used it just seven times and the last time was seven years ago.

With the buyout period for the 2026 off-season now open, let’s take a trip down memory lane…

The Flames claimed Nigel Dawes off waivers in the 2009 off-season after he was waiver by the Phoenix Coyotes in advance of a scheduled salary arbitration hearing. The Flames signed him to a two year contract and he posted 14 goals and 32 points in 2009-10. However, the Flames added Alex Tanguay, Olli Jokinen and Tim Jackman early in free agency, and they opted to buy out Dawes’ remaining year on July 4, 2010.

Since he was 25 when he was bought out, the Flames carried one-third ($283,333) of his $850,000 cap hit split across two seasons.

The Flames acquired Shane O’Brien in June 2013 as part of a trade with Colorado, adding O’Brien and David Jones from the Avalanche in exchange for Alex Tanguay and Cory Sarich. O’Brien didn’t really move the needle for the Flames, though, posting just three points before being waived and sent to the AHL in January 2014. The Flames opted to buy him out in June 2014.

Due to his age, O’Brien’s buyout carried two-thirds ($1,466,667) of his $2.2 million cap hit split across two seasons. His buyout occurred at the tail-end of the amnesty buyout period stemming from the prior year’s lockout, but the Flames apparently opted to use a regular buyout, potentially due to concerns about staying above the cap floor as they continued their rebuild.

A couple years later, the Flames used another buyout. They had signed Mason Raymond to a three-year deal in the 2014 off-season. He was rock-solid during his first season with the Flames, but he struggled a bit offensively in 2015-16 and was waived twice, spending about half of the season in the AHL. Predictably, the final year of his deal was bought out.

His remaining year was worth $3.15 million, so a two-thirds buyout carried a $2.1 million cap hit split across two seasons.

The Flames bought out two players on the same day in June 2017.

First up, Lance Bouma. The Flames had drafted Bouma in 2008 and he signed a three year deal during the 2015 off-season. However, his offensive production struggled in the second year of his deal, with Bouma posting just seven points. He was bought out at two-thirds ($1,533,333) of his $2.3 million salary split across two seasons..

The day before the Flames bought out Bouma, they acquired Ryan Murphy as part of a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes. The Flames acquired Eddie Lack, Murphy, and a 2019 seventh-round pick in exchange for Keegan Kanzig and a 2019 sixth-round pick. At the time, the Hurricanes’ ownership wasn’t exactly flush, and the thought was that the Flames got the deal for Lack, a prospective backup goalie, over the line by agreeing to take Murphy’s contract (with the aim of buying him out rather than the Hurricanes doing it themselves).

The day after the trade was made, Murphy’s $825,000 remaining year was bought out at one-third salary ($275,000) split across two seasons.

The Flames had added Troy Brouwer in free agency in the 2016 off-season to a four year deal. He found a pretty solid niche for himself on the bottom six – admittedly, his cap hit was a bit high for his role, but he was solid. But after the Flames made some additions during the 2019 off-season, he seemed a bit expendable.

In August 2018, in the second buyout period opened up by salary arbitration cases, the Flames bought out the final two years of Brouwer’s deal, with $9 million remaining salary at a two-thirds buyout ($6 million) resulting in a $1.5 million cap penalty for four seasons.

The most recent buyout was a weird one.

The Flames acquired Michael Stone in a trade with Phoenix ahead of the 2017 trade deadline and signed him to a three year deal in June 2017. He became a spare part for the Flames in his second season and the Flames opted to buy him out during the second buyout window in August 2019. (The two-thirds buyout of his $3.5 million final year carried a $2,333,333 cap penalty split across two seasons.)

However, right after they bought him out, Juuso Valimaki suffered a knee injury that required surgery. The Flames received the go-ahead from the league to sign Stone to another contract, the first of four consecutive one year deals he had with the organization leading up to his eventual retirement.