October NHL News

cshea

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The Sens have had a busy morning. They signed Bobby Ryan to a 7/$50.75 contract ($7.25 AAV) and also named Erik Karlsson their new captain.
 

McDrew

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Same money Krecji got, just one more year.  Every signing that comes along reminds me how great the Krecji signing is. 
 

TSC

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Pumpsie

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Ryan Carter signs with the Wild for one year to be on their fourth line.  Carter's a solid 4th line player who works hard and has good hockey sense.  The Devils wanted to re-sign him but couldn't fit his $725k contract under the cap.  Way to go, Lou.
 

cshea

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The win for the Johansen camp is getting the $6 million QO at the end of the deal. It kind of forces CBJ's hands a bit and Johansen will have some leverage when they negotiate his next contract. He'll have the high QO, and arbitration rights. Arbitration would only be for 1-year which brings him to free agency. 
 
Edit: Johansen has essentially ensured himself $12-$18 million banked before he hits UFA in 2018. Not that bad for him. When this deal expires, he either extends with CBJ for big money or signs the QO/arbitration award for north of $6 million for 1-year before hitting UFA at 26. I think CBJ ended up caving more than Johansen did. 
 

MoGator71

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cshea said:
The Sens have had a busy morning. They signed Bobby Ryan to a 7/$50.75 contract ($7.25 AAV) and also named Erik Karlsson their new captain.
So wait...neither Shea Weber nor Bobby Ryan will be Flyers? 
 

PedroSpecialK

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Pumpsie said:
Ryan Carter signs with the Wild for one year to be on their fourth line.  Carter's a solid 4th line player who works hard and has good hockey sense.  The Devils wanted to re-sign him but couldn't fit his $725k contract under the cap.  Way to go, Lou.
 
Believe me, it's better to not be able to sign 4th liners of choice than to trade pieces to accommodate them.
 

cshea

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McKenzie is reporting that in great irony, Chris Pronger is trying to join the Department of Player Safety. Some issues to be sorted through since Pronger is technically still on Philadelphia's roster, but seems like it'll happen at some point. 8 suspensions (22 total games) in Pronger's career so he should be fun in that role.
 

NYCSox

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Any word on whether this will get Pronger's AAV off their cap book?
 
And yes, I'm still annoyed that the Bruins have to account for Savard every offseason when he hasn't played in three years and isn't coming back.
 

cshea

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NYCSox said:
Any word on whether this will get Pronger's AAV off their cap book?
 
And yes, I'm still annoyed that the Bruins have to account for Savard every offseason when he hasn't played in three years and isn't coming back.
The issue is the other way around. If he needs to retire before joining the DPS, the Flyers get dumped a $5 million cap charge since it's 35+ contract. If he joins DPS without retiring there are all sorts of conflict of interest issues. Of course, like with Campbell, the league will probably largely ignore the issues and claim that the problem is solved by not letting Pronger work on cases involving the Flyers. Which is ridiculous, but I'm guessing that is what happens.
 

NYCSox

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Yeah I was being kind of sarcastic, but appreciate the details.
 
And I think your suspicion of recusal is probably how it's resolved.
 

Auger34

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I figure this is the best place to put this but on ESPN.com Insider they recently posted a list of best goalies by tier. They had 15 people (five general managers, four head coaches, three goalie coaches, two assistant general managers and one goal scorer) vote by placing each goalie in a tier. Tier 1 is elite, Tier 2 is good, so on and so forth.
Anyway, they had Lundqvist and Quick as the two best goalies each getting unanimous 1's. Price came in 3rd and Rask 4th. 
I thought this was interesting in that I thought it was pretty much a consensus that the two best goalies in the game were Rask and Lundqvist. I also thought it was pretty much a consensus that Quick was sort of overrated and not truly elite. (It's funny in the write-up one voter said he didn't give Rask a 1 because he plays for Boston who has a great defense, but apparently gave Quick a 1 despite the fact that LA's defense is just as good?)
Am I wrong about this? Or was there some recency bias here because the Kings just won the Cup
 
http://insider.espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/11653739/anonymous-league-insiders-rank-30-starting-goaltenders-nhl. Here's the link. It is behind a paywall though
 

Greg29fan

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cshea said:
McKenzie is reporting that in great irony, Chris Pronger is trying to join the Department of Player Safety. Some issues to be sorted through since Pronger is technically still on Philadelphia's roster, but seems like it'll happen at some point. 8 suspensions (22 total games) in Pronger's career so he should be fun in that role.
 
The FBI hires hackers for computer security techs, that's like doing this for the league.  No one better to hire than one of the dirtiest to ever play.
 

FL4WL3SS

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TheStoryofYourRedRightAnkle said:
This fuckin' league.
Seriously, what's the difference? If he retires, the only difference is he isn't getting a paycheck. It's not as if his memory of ever playing for them is completely wiped away.
 
You could say there is a conflict of interest for any former player working in the league offices.
 

Red Right Ankle

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FL4WL3SS said:
Seriously, what's the difference? If he retires, the only difference is he isn't getting a paycheck. It's not as if his memory of ever playing for them is completely wiped away.
 
You could say there is a conflict of interest for any former player working in the league offices.
It was more about hiring a guy who was suspended 8 times (thanks cshea!) to be in your Office of Discipline.  
 
Guys probably shouldn't be involved in making rulings on areas that affect games when they are still drawing a check from a team.  It's probably best they hire people to work in the office instead who are competent, qualified and as neutral as feasible (given that most NHL employees probably have a favorite team).  Between Shanny and Campbell, it's not like the former players have demonstrated any advantage over a non-player in this area.
 

FL4WL3SS

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TheStoryofYourRedRightAnkle said:
It was more about hiring a guy who was suspended 8 times (thanks cshea!) to be in your Office of Discipline.  
 
Guys probably shouldn't be involved in making rulings on areas that affect games when they are still drawing a check from a team.  It's probably best they hire people to work in the office instead who are competent, qualified and as neutral as feasible (given that most NHL employees probably have a favorite team).  Between Shanny and Campbell, it's not like the former players have demonstrated any advantage over a non-player in this area.
Well that's an entirely different conversation, for which I agree. But if they're going to hire former players, I don't see how this is any different than hiring Shannahan.
 

Fred in Lynn

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What's the conflict of interest? Pronger gets paid his money whether the Flyers win or lose. There is no financial incentive for him in that position nor for the organization. If the idea is that he may have a preference for the Flyers because he played there, then the NHL should clear its offices because everyone has favorite teams. There's a difference between a perceived and actual conflict of interest.
 

cshea

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We've been dealing with all sorts of Bruins favoritism conspiracy theories ever since Gregory Campbell was acquired. Just be ready for that once Pronger joins DPS.

The other issue is the salary cap. The Flyers are essentially being given a get out of jail free card. How can he take a new job while still being on IR with a team? Shouldn't he have to retire? The Flyers are still receiving salary cap benefits. The same can be said of Savard, but Savard's contract is not 35+ so the cap hit would get wiped out if/when he officially retires. Not true for Pronger.
 

Fred in Lynn

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Maybe rephrase that as "How can he take a job with the League while still on a member team's roster?" I cannot account for that logic, but then again, a person would go mad trying to make sense of of the administrative policies and practices of professional sports leagues. They seem to be making a distinction between active and (presumably, never-to-be) inactive players, but it's a strange distinction. It's just not a COI. The Flyers don't gain anything.

As for retirement v. LTIR, the NHL should negotiate with the PA if it wants to clarify such conditions. As it is, his LTIR status is certified according to CBA practice, just like Savard's. Age has nothing to do with it. Good luck, because it's a way of in-guaranteeing a contract. PA no like.
 

McDrew

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I would be completely ok with a deal that said "if a player has not played in 2 years due to injury, he can "retire" ".  The retirement would A) Cause him to be paid the rest of his contract as scheduled, and B) Remove his contract entirely from the team's payroll calculations. 
 
Seriously, Savard will never play again.  Neither will Pronger.  The fact that they have to be juggled as part of some "active" roster is bull shit. 
 

mikeford

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FL4WL3SS said:
Seriously, what's the difference? If he retires, the only difference is he isn't getting a paycheck. It's not as if his memory of ever playing for them is completely wiped away.
 
You could say there is a conflict of interest for any former player working in the league offices.
I have a problem with the fact that this appears to be blatant cap circumvention for the Flyers.
 

Greg29fan

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mikeford said:
I have a problem with the fact that this appears to be blatant cap circumvention for the Flyers.
 
I concur with my fellow Metropolitan division team supporter.  Fuck the Flyers.
 

Fred in Lynn

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AMcGhie said:
I would be completely ok with a deal that said "if a player has not played in 2 years due to injury, he can "retire" ".  The retirement would A) Cause him to be paid the rest of his contract as scheduled, and B) Remove his contract entirely from the team's payroll calculations. 
 
Seriously, Savard will never play again.  Neither will Pronger.  The fact that they have to be juggled as part of some "active" roster is bull shit. 
It's not bullshit, it's the end point of negotiations between a party that would love to abolish guaranteed contracts and one that would prefer to gouge out its eyes rather than acquiesce one bit. A solution might be coming up with something that the owners cherish that they would be willing to part with. Think "first born" when considering what they should surrender, because the Union clearly values guaranteed contracts. I have no earthly idea what that might be, but I can't imagine it's something minor.

From another point of view, it seems punitive for punitive's sake to punish any player who can no longer play due to injury. Bully for him if he can collect his check and work elsewhere.

(Logically speaking, it is bullshit, but the mistake is in rationalizing the situation using logic.)
 

cshea

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Slava Voynov has been suspended indefinitely following his arrest on domestic violence charges this morning.
 

McDrew

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Interesting to see how the NHL handles this given the lens on DV cases the NFL is going through.  I'd fully support every league implementing a "you're suspended until you get this dealt with" order for all felonies.  This would prevent the utter bullshit of "delay the trial until the offseason" that every pro player (but no average joe's) get. 
 
edit: turns out the NHL already has something like that from the CBA: "the League may suspend the Player pending the League's formal review and disposition of the matter where the failure to suspend the Player during this period would create a substantial risk of material harm to the legitimate interests and/or reputation of the League."
 

cshea

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The Voynov suspension is the NHL reacting to the Rice debacle. Semyon Varlamov was arrested on DV and kidnapping charges almost exactly 1 year ago. Varlamov spent a night in jail but wasn't suspended by the league and the charges were eventually dropped.
 

McDrew

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They got it wrong last year.  They got it right this year.  I'm totally ok with this reaction, and ok with this reaction continuing.  Let Voynov go deal with his impending court issues, and not represent the NHL on the ice.  He's still getting paid. 
 

Fred in Lynn

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It would be interesting to see what a team would do if it cut ties with a player having a relative bunch left on his contract, like Voynov. I'm not sure the CBA permits wishing contracts away to the corn field and off a team's cap for this sort of matter, meaning (hypothetically, of course) LA would be eating a ton of money for a non-performing player because of something not related to hockey. I couldn't fault LA in that scenario for pushing back at taking any permanent action until the NHL and Union modified the CBA to provide cap relief in such situations. Or quit trying to regulate off-ice/field behavior.

Edit: Believe the CBA would allow a player to be waived and removed from the cap calculation, although he'd still get paid. He would also count as one of the 50.
 

cshea

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Sad news out of Columbus. Nathan Horton's season, and possibly his career, are in jeopardy due to some sort of back issues. 
 
http://bluejacketsxtra.dispatch.com/content/blogs/puck-rakers/2014/10/horton-back-could-end-season-career.html
 
The Blue Jackets aren’t ready to move on without injured right wing Nathan Horton yet.

But optimism is fading that Horton will be able to play this season, and there’s growing concern that the 29-year-old’s career might be finished.

Horton, who signed a seven-year, $37.1 million free-agent contract with the Blue Jackets in the summer of 2013, has been diagnosed with “degeneration” of the entire lumbar region of his spine, or the lower back, sources told The Dispatch.
The article goes on to say that surgery is delicate and has no guarantee of working so they're viewing it as a last resort. I hope things work out for Playoff Horton. Shame if this is it for him. 
 

LogansDad

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Yeah, I had read that the other day on another website somewhere, and though I had posted it here.  It really is a shame.  Hopefully he is the one it goes well for, and he can get back on the ice.
 

ngruz25

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While cruising around Wikipedia tonight, I learned that Zane Gothberg, the UND goalie drafted by the Bruins, changed his name to Zane McIntyre.
 

Pumpsie

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The Devils still suck at the shootout.  18 in a row and counting.  So little talent on that team.  They tried hard but they were a step behind the Stars all night. And Patrick Elias should retire tomorrow.  He looks as if he's 60 years old out there.  And Bryce Salvador should join him.