Maple Leafs buy out Komisarek's contract

The Toronto Maple Leafs made Mike Komisarek a unrestricted free agent on Tuesday when the team used one of its compliance buyouts on the defenseman.

The buyout allows the Maple Leafs to avoid paying $4.5 million in the final season of Komisarek's five-year contract and saves cap space.

The 31-year-old Komisarek has struggled since signing the deal in 2009, missing significant ice time because of injuries ineffectiveness. This past season, he played in only four games for the Maple Leafs and wound up with the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League.

"It was a privilege playing for a first-class organization like the Leafs even though things did not turn out as I would have liked," Komisarek said on Twitter.