This is part 3 of 3 of theScore's compliance buyout series. You can check out part 1, "5 very likely compliance buyout targets" here, and part 2 "5 fringe compliance buyout targets" here.

Ondrej Pavelec - Winnipeg Jets

Cap hit and term: $3.9 million per year, through 2016-17

Buyout cost: $8.5 million spread over six years per capgeek.com

Despite brutal incompetence - often historic incompetence - the Jets will go into next season with Ondrej Pavelec as their No. 1 goaltender.

It's baffling, and really, the Jets should consider using a compliance buyout on Pavelec. Since Pavelec's current, lucrative 5-year, $19.5-million contract went into effect at the start of the 2012-13 season, 65 goaltenders have played at least 1,000 minutes at even strength, and only 14 have done worse by even-strength save percentage than Pavelec. None of them are signed to extended contracts worth an annual averaged salary of $3.9 million.

The fact is the Jets are probably a fringe playoff team with just league-average goaltending, which is really easy to find on the scrap heap (Thomas Greiss, come on down!). Spending $3.9 million against the cap on a workhorse who will play consistently, and perform consistently below average, is a raw deal for Winnipeg.

Bourne's Take:

Hi, Islanders fan here.

For the love of hockey, buy this man out. It's not that Pavelec is "terrible," it's that he might be "NHL terrible," and is undoubtedly at least "NHL bad." If you have a team that isn't, and you'd like to get the boat moving in the right direction, you have to cut the $3.9-million anchor to get going. The Islanders have been dealing with this with Evgeni Nabokov, and it's a major downer for both the fans and the players.

Your team is hanging around, playing pretty well, getting some chances AND THENNN ... a weak one goes in? Ah, come on.

Deflating. Demoralizing. De-sasterous.

Buyout-ability:

It's just not going to happen for whatever reason. Because the Jets are wilfully blind about what ails their club, Pavelec gets only two of five Rick DiPietros on the buyout-ability scale:

Johan Franzen - Detroit Red Wings

Cap hit and term: $3,954,545 million per year, through 2019-20

Buyout cost: $11,666,667 million spread over 12 years per capgeek.com

When he's engaged, Johan Franzen remains an excellent player. The 34-year-old Swedish forward managed 41 points in just 54 games, and played top-line minutes for an overachieving Red Wings side at even strength.

The problem is he's on an expensive contract that runs through the 2020 season - he'll turn 40 years old that year - and though his cap hit is relatively low (roughly $3.9 million), his salary is significantly higher (through 2017). As a result of Franzen's three "cheater years" at the tail end of his deal, he's a major cap recapture liability.

If, for example, Franzen retires at the age of 38, the Red Wings will have to pay a $3 million cap penalty for two seasons (2018-19, 2019-20). So Franzen is incurring diminishing return, he's increasingly injured, he's signed forever, and his deal could result in a toxic cap situation down the line.

Still, he's not going to get bought out, because the Red Wings are intent on using their last compliance buyout on Jordin Tootoo. They should maybe reconsider.

Bourne's Take:

At 34 years old, 6'3" and 225 pounds, Franzen is getting perilously close to that not-so-complimentary word: "lumbering." In today's NHL - and call me crazy here, but probably in future iterations too - you don't want to "lumber."

He's still big and smart and talented and all sorts of positive things. But there's still an L-O-T lot of years left on his deal (2020!). While the Red Wings might enjoy him for the next couple of seasons, they almost certainly won't near the end of his deal.

That's probably what encourages them to keep him though - they want him for the next few years, and if they get dinged with the cap-recapture penalty down the road, it'll be in years when the cap is (rumored to be) significantly higher. They're putting him on their credit card, in a sense - gimme the goods now, we'll pay ya later.

Buyout-ability:

Franzen's still a top-line talent when he's healthy and engaged, and Detroit has made it clear that they're saving a compliance buyout for Tootoo. So Franzen gets just one of five possible Rick DiPietros on the buyout-ability scale:

Brooks Laich - Washington Capitals

Cap hit and term: $4.5 million per year through 2016-17

Buyout cost: $8,333,333 million spread over six years per capgeek.com

Brooks Laich is not getting bought out because, among other reasons, he's currently injured and wouldn't pass the required physical. Also the Washington Capitals insist they wouldn't buy him out anyway.

If they were able to use a compliance buyout on Laich's deal and didn't though, it would probably be a mistake. This past season, when he was healthy, Laich played third-line minutes and struggled enormously. Formerly an excellent two-way player, Laich is now 30, and his bull-in-a-china-shop game has fallen off significantly.

He's essentially a $4.5 million third-line center who gets his teeth kicked in at even strength and isn't nearly as productive offensively as he was earlier in his career.

Bourne's Take:

Did Laich provide $4.5 million in value last year. Noo-ho-ho, he did not. That said, I think Laich can still play. At 31-33 over the length of his deal, he's not exactly a dinosaur. He's been in bad pain for a couple years with a pulled groin, and skating with one of those (even one that's recently improved) leaves a guy awfully hesitant to take a deep stride. I think Barry Trotz is going to like his game, which goes a ways, too.

Would I pay $4.5 million for three more seasons of what Laich has been the past couple years? Lord no. But I do think he's a useful player who can offer something not too far from what the Caps thought they bought.

Buyout-ability:

Brooks Laich cannot be bought out because of his injured status. The Capitals could wait until June 30 and try to see if he could pass the required physical with an additional two weeks of healing.

Anyway, he gets two of five DiPietro heads for his above-average buyout-ability:

Tim Gleason - Toronto Maple Leafs

Cap hit and term: $4 million per year through 2015-16

Buyout cost: $5,333,333 million spread over four years per capgeek.com

The Toronto Maple Leafs are out of compliance buyouts - they used them last season on Mike Komisarek and Mikhail Grabovski.

So they're stuck with Tim Gleason, who they acquired in a trade for John-Michael Liles, who really should have been bought out instead of Grabovski last summer. In the NHL, mistakes compound.

At this point in his career, Gleason is probably best suited to a third-pairing role. In Toronto, Gleason played 39 games, and when he was on the ice at five-on-five the Maple Leafs were outshot significantly and were outscored 13 to 29 at even-strength. Of the 18 players he's spent more than 150 minutes skating with at evens the past two seasons, 16 have done worse by shot-attempt differential (most of them significantly worse).

He's a depth guy, paid $4 million a year, on a club that is likely to struggle to re-up key players like Dave Bolland, Cody Franson, Nikolai Kulemin, and Jake Gardiner this offseason.

Bourne's Take:

I know this isn't about buying out Grabovski, so I'm not even going to mention how poor that decision was. Not even once. Nope. Instead, I'll mention that the Leafs are boned here (quality insight), and their only available plan of action now is to make sure Gleason shows up to camp in the best shape of his life so they can get something, anything for their money.

Ending up with a third-pair defenseman making $4 million is pretty tough to pull off, but here we are.

Haha. Leafs.

Buyout-ability:

It's a moot point since Toronto can only buy him out if they're willing to take the standard buyout route and take the resulting cap hit.

They'd be better off if they could cut him loose with a compliance buyout, but still, if you're protected by the rules of the collective bargaining agreement, that's just one of five Rick DiPietros:

Cam Ward - Carolina Hurricanes

Cap hit and term: $6.3 million per year through 2015-16

Buyout cost: $9 million spread over four years per capgeek.com

The Hurricanes reportedly consider Cam Ward expendable, which makes sense, since he's struggled to stay healthy and only narrowly outperformed Ondrej Pavelec the past two seasons. Also, Anton Khudobin is very probably the better goaltender at this point, just ask him!

Cam Ward had a run of four or five years where he was solidly above average, and he led the Carolina Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup in 2006 and won a Conn Smythe for his efforts. His performance has been well below average over the past couple of seasons, though, and he's been perpetually injured.

Despite his struggles and brittleness of late, Ward is one of the best compensated goaltenders in hockey. He'll make $13.5 million in actual salary over the next two seasons, and he'll occupy $6.3 million per year against the cap in those two seasons. Considering that Ward is very likely not as good as the more reasonably priced Khudobin, his deal makes lots of sense for the Hurricanes to buy out.

They won't though because of Ward's reputation, because of what he's meant to the franchise, and because the Hurricanes are a budget team and a Ward buyout is an expensive proposition. Perhaps a retained salary transaction?

Bourne's Take:

The Canes can't keep Cam Ward. They just can't.

If they keep him, they'll feel justified to get him in games given his salary, meaning the better goalie, Khudobin, will play less. Now you're hurting in the pocketbook and the net.

Ward might not be a complete write-off (his terrible numbers have come over the past two seasons, which have seen him riddled with injuries), he has a "name" around the NHL, and he's won a Cup, all of which make him fairly sellable if you offer to eat some of his deal.

Whatever they do, it has to be something, with the most likely solution being writing the guy a check and telling him good luck elsewhere. The Canes need to part ways, for the team's on-ice success, their salary cap situation, and their general cash flow.

Buyout-ability:

The Hurricanes probably don't have the pockets or the stomach to buy out Ward's contract. They really should though.

As an underperforming, oft-injured goaltender, Ward gets three of five Rick DiPietros on the buyout-ability scale: