December NHL News

cshea

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In fairness, I don't think they would fake a Kucherov injury just to solve cap woes. They can't do it either unless they think he will miss the entire regular season. It would just really be kicking the can down the road to whenever he's ready to be back. It will definitely suck if that' the playoffs and they show up to game 1 of the playoffs with Kucherov and a $90 million roster. Friedman also said he's heard Tampa might trade Tyler Johnson to Detroit for Henrik Zetterberg's LTIR'd contract.

I'd have more of a problem with them acquiring Zetterberg. It's the same thing the Leafs did last year with Clarkson and Horton. It's legal, but I wish the league did something about it in the CBA they rammed through this spring.
 

PedroSpecialK

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Of all the things they could've done to make the rule and the challenge situation better, they choose one that won't solve the problem.

Not that I'm surprised or anything
 

cshea

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I don't think they're willingly sitting their best player for the season just to circumvent the cap, but a simple "your playoff game day roster must be cap compliant" rule would seem to be a fair way of handling these situations, rare as they are.
 

RedOctober3829

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I don't think they're willingly sitting their best player for the season just to circumvent the cap, but a simple "your playoff game day roster must be cap compliant" rule would seem to be a fair way of handling these situations, rare as they are.
Of course he’s hurt, but it’s been a couple months since the season and they wait this long to have it?
 

cshea

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Of course he’s hurt, but it’s been a couple months since the season and they wait this long to have it?
Surgery might've been a last resort. Maybe he decided to try rest and other treatments before surgery? I don't know. It's convenient for them but I also don't think they sat around a room and decided the best way out of cap hell was having their best player miss the entire season.
 

The Napkin

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@DarrenDreger
Sources say the 5 provinces have requested additional testing procedures, or have asked the NHL to consider a “bubble” model. If bubble isn’t an option for NHL, sources say a delay to start of season has also been suggested. The NHL is working on a response. Ongoing discussions.
 

Salem's Lot

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@DarrenDreger
Sources say the 5 provinces have requested additional testing procedures, or have asked the NHL to consider a “bubble” model. If bubble isn’t an option for NHL, sources say a delay to start of season has also been suggested. The NHL is working on a response. Ongoing discussions.
Wait they announced a return to play and a schedule without getting approval from the provincial governments? Seems unlikely that they would overlook that.
 

The Napkin

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does seem weird but NHL?

He tweeted this this afternoon:

@DarrenDreger
9h
The NHL could have an answer from the 5 provinces involved in league discussions later today. Sources say provincial reps met on Monday and again this morning and are expected to respond the NHL/NHLPA as a group which is viewed as encouraging by some clubs.
 

Salem's Lot

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does seem weird but NHL?

He tweeted this this afternoon:

@DarrenDreger
9h
The NHL could have an answer from the 5 provinces involved in league discussions later today. Sources say provincial reps met on Monday and again this morning and are expected to respond the NHL/NHLPA as a group which is viewed as encouraging by some clubs.
It sounds to me like the provincial authorities are moving the goalposts a little bit. The bubble option is a non-starter for the players. If that’s what the provincial governments wanted from the beginning, they definitely weren’t communicating that to the league and PA, because it wouldn’t have gotten this far. Players also don’t want their families to have to test everyday. The compromise here is test the players everyday, but the owners probably don’t want to pay for it, and there’s the snag.

After announcing a return and releasing a schedule, there is obviously pressure now on both sides to come to an agreement.
 

Ale Xander

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Have the Canadian Covid numbers changed for the worse in the last few weeks? Maybe that's the reason for the provincial newly insistence on bubble(s).
 

PedroSpecialK

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So right now, Kucherov is on offseason LTIR, allowing Tampa to sign Cirelli today (at ~$93m AAV now, they would have exceeded even the 10% cushion on $81.5m for the offseason to get Cirelli in the fold).

You do have to be cap compliant (i.e. with the 10% buffer gone) by Day 1 of the season, but I don't think there's anything stopping teams from keeping players on the offseason LTIR to get the additional salary pool flexibility, with the understanding that if Kucherov comes back before end of the regular season, the Lightning are no longer cap compliant.

I look forward to him skating with the team for the last two weeks of the regular season and playing in game 1 of the postseason.
 

cshea

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Coyotes traded the corpse of Derek Stephan to Ottawa for a 2nd round pick. Nice piece of business for Arizona.

Ilya Kovalchuk signed back with the KHL, his NHL career is likely over.
 

Catcher Block

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Oh hell yeah. The Blues are short on shooters (even with a healthy Tarasenko), so this fills a big need, especially on the power play.

The NHL salary cap continues to be kind of a joke, however. If teams are going to do this, the LITR rules really need to be updated.
 

Salem's Lot

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I wonder if the Bruins were ever in on Hoffman, or if he would’ve been an option if they had traded DeBrusk?
 

cshea

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I wonder if the Bruins were ever in on Hoffman, or if he would’ve been an option if they had traded DeBrusk?
I don’t think so. I’ve said it before, but he’s not a great fit for the Bruins. He’s lousy defensively and not really a needle mover at 5x5. When given a ton of time on the PP, he’ll produce (35 of his 59 points last year were on the PP) but the Bruins don’t really have space on the top PP to maximize his value.
 

cshea

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Tampa’s LTIR shenanigans continue. They trade Cedric Paquette, Brayden Coburn and a 2nd round pick to Ottawa for Marian Gaborik’s $4.875 LTIR and goalie Anders Nilsson.

edit; Nilsson is apparently LTIR too
 

cshea

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I’m guessing that this is going to be addressed in the next CBA.
I’m guessing that this is going to be addressed in the next CBA.
We'll see. There doesn't seem to be much hand wringing over it on either side. There were some small reports that teams were unhappy with Tampa but there doesn't seem to be a huge outcry. On the owners side, the larger market/deep pocket teams get to use their financial strength for a competitive advantage (Tampa, Toronto, Chicago) while small market/struggling teams can use it to help reach the floor (Arizona, Ottawa, Florida). It creates more jobs and money for the players so they don't really care either.

I don't really have a problem with the idea of LTIR for in-season, long term injuries. Kucherov and Tarasenko have legitimate injuries. I think they really need to re-think how the retirement ones are handled, like Gaborik, Savard, Pronger, Clarkson, Horton, Datsyuk, etc. The intent was to punish teams for circumventing the cap with these long term, back sliding contracts to minimize the cap hit. Instead, they became valuable trade chips and tools for cap manipulation.
 

cshea

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Also, Ottawa's piece of business this weekend was trading Marian Gaborik and Anders Nilsson and a 2021 2nd round pick for Derek Stepan, Braydon Coburn, Cedric Paquette, and a 2022 2nd round pick. So 2 players who weren't going to play for them for 3 that will and they just pushed a draft pick out a year. Not bad. They even traded insured money for money they'll actually have to pay out. Stepan, Coburn and Paquette aren't exactly needle movers, but they'll also provide some experience and grit which the Sens are clearly trying to surround their kids with. They are all also upcoming UFA's so they can be turned into even more picks.

They will stink again this year but I'm fascinated to see how this rebuild goes. I don't think anyone has ever torn it down to the extreme they've gone to. They made 6 top 61 draft picks this year, including 2 top 5 picks. 3 more picks in the top 2 rounds in 2021 and 2022. Already a strong prospect pool and they'll only add to it. Very little long term cap commitments on their books. If they can get Melnyk to step aside and just spend to the cap and let hockey ops do their thing they could really be something.
 

Dim13

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Wondering if this is an aortic aneurysm that they needed to repair, similar to what happened to Jeff Green when he was with the Celtics. I have an aneurysm similar to this, but it's luckily not large enough to require this type of surgery right now, but when they were in the stages of figuring things out, they refenced a procedure similar to what Lundqvist needs.
 

cshea

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I don't think this rises to the level of a bomb, but we'll say this is a LeBrun-grenade on NYE. There are rumblings that Pierre Luc-Dubois may want out of Columbus. He's currently and unsigned RFA. He is not even in Columbus at this point. That might be a minor note, but with quarantine protocols and such it's not like he can fly in and jump on the ice the day he signs and get going. May be an indicator he really wants out or they are really far apart. In comparison, RFA Mat Barzal is in the NY area in anticipation of signing.

View: https://twitter.com/PierreVLeBrun/status/1344691581614436352?s=20
 

cshea

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It’s dumb, but they have to try and make money somehow, especially no fans in the majority of buildings.