Brent Seabrook announces [LTIR] retirement

[Kaners Bald Spot]

He seemed to have dropped fast in recent years but same thing happened to Kieth and Toews. But that whole squad were World breakers, they won two cups in a couple of years and were one of the most dominant teams in recent memories. Almost a dynasty. Seabrook was one of my favorite D, just loved his style, could hit, skilled, great shot and handsome to boot. Almost perfect specimen. lol

They were a puck off of Nick Leddy's ass from three peating.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Hawks would have dispatched of the Rangers as easily as the Kings did in 2014.

That being said, idk how they do in 2015 had they won in 2014 because according to players on that team 2015 was the Hawks revenge tour.

All else being equal, I'd take the repeat.

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

They aren't wiggling out of anything. Hossa has an extremely rare condition. Like one in a million chance of getting it I'm pretty sure. Seabrook's body has been reduced to rubble after 1,000+ games, the Olympics and multiple long playoff runs.

I know as a Sharks fan you're not used to seeing your team go on long playoff runs, but it wear guys down. Especially when you do it on a consistent basis (2009,2010,2013,2014,2015).

Father Time is undefeated.

A rare condition that he somehow managed until he was set to earn 1 million a year. And the team was set to pay full cap.

 

[DANTHEMAN1967]

LTIRetirement was inevitable for him after double hip surgery.

It was inevitable once he signed the contract the same as Hossa and others.

 

[DANTHEMAN1967]

They haven't circumvented any rules. Every contract was approved by the NHL, as was every placement on LTIR. Why would the NHL punish the team for actions the league itself signed off on?

Most (all?) of those contracts were signed to bring down their cap hit with the full knowledge by both team and player that they wouldn't play once the yearly salary dropped.
This means that they submitted false contracts to the League and should be punished.

 

[DANTHEMAN1967]

Retiring through LTIR will never be taken away.

The NHL provides guaranteed contracts for the very reason you outlined, the game is violent. LTIR prevents teams from being punished for unforeseen injuries and allows players who are injured to collect their paycheck. It's one of the few things that has the full support of both the owners and the players union.

The Devils were punished because they went to arbitration with the league and the independent arbitrator sided with the league, that the Kovalchuk contract was an attempt at cap circumvention. The original Kovalchuk contract was rejected.... and then the Devils came back with a contract 2 years shorter and all of 2 million dollars cheaper. So they took the Devils to arbitration and won. And then the Devils filed for consideration, and got the pick back as well as some of the money fined.

None of the other back-diving contracts were either a) initially rejected or b) taken to arbitration. Unlike the Devils situation, all the other teams had the approval of the NHL when the contracts were signed. So they have reason to take issue with cap-recapture being retro-actively applied.

We can argue about how arbitrary the NHL's 'limit' was, but for comparison's sake, the Kovalchuck contract was 3 years longer and 40 million dollars more than the Hossa contract.

The Hossa contract, if he played it out to it's finish, would have made him one of the top 10 oldest players to have ever played the game.
It was a farce perpetrated on the League.

 

[DANTHEMAN1967]

Datsyuk actually played in the KHL for 5 yrs, still currently playing well/producing. Has won a KHL Championship, went to KHL All-Star games etc.

He is not like the others.

No, Zetterberg is though.

 

[ClydeLee]

The Hossa contract, if he played it out to it's finish, would have made him one of the top 10 oldest players to have ever played the game.
It was a farce perpetrated on the League.

They are punished. Having to manage or pay to get rid of the contracts whether the player is below nhl ability or stops playing because injuries is the same.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Good player in his prime, enjoy retirement....Insurance loses....Hawks and Seabrook win this one.

 

[Ghost of Ethan Hunt]

No, Zetterberg is though.

Nope. We didn't trade Zetterberg to dump his contract a la Hossa. We ate the last 2 yrs of salary & his back injuries are actually legit (surgeries, missed games during multiple seasons, etc.).

 

[Brightwing]

A rare condition that he somehow managed until he was set to earn 1 million a year. And the team was set to pay full cap.

Scott Powers did a lengthy article on it but Hossa's skin condition was actually eczema and it was triggered by his skin not being able to breath under his equipment. The condition got worse over time and the description of the impact in the story is quite gross, like bloody sheets and pus.

If you've known anyone with severe eczema, it's not a pretty sight. I've had mild eczema flare ups that required steroid cream treatment.

The issue for Hossa is that the meds to treat it got to the point where he was risking serious side effects and it was getting worse.

"The Cyclosporine reduced some of the itching and the symptoms, but it wasn’t perfect. It also complicated Hossa’s life in other ways. For one, Hossa had to take three pills in the morning and three at night.

The drug can be so dangerous the FDA has given it a black box warning. Some of the possible side effects include an increased risk of serious infections, higher blood pressure, kidney disease, tumor and skin cancer. Hossa went to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for testing every two weeks."

So at that point he decided it wasn't worth it. And Hossa is by no means the only person to have eczema outbreaks from hockey equipment. If you really want to get a sense of what he was dealing with search 'severe eczema' on Google images.

Incidentally the Blackhawks beat reporters didn't know about the condition but it explained certain behaviour like a lot of missed practices and even Hossa asking to do post practice interviews via phone.

 

[DANTHEMAN1967]

Nope. We didn't trade Zetterberg to dump his contract a la Hossa. We ate the last 2 yrs of salary & his back injuries are actually legit (surgeries, missed games during multiple seasons, etc.).

Zetterberg admitted in a Swedish newspaper that the last few years of his deal were a fiction to bring down his salary against the cap.
Both player and team knew this but submitted the contract to the League.

 

[Voight]

A rare condition that he somehow managed until he was set to earn 1 million a year. And the team was set to pay full cap.

He was taking medication for it. However, it go to the point where there was too much risk. See below.

Scott Powers did a lengthy article on it but Hossa's skin condition was actually eczema and it was triggered by his skin not being able to breath under his equipment. The condition got worse over time and the description of the impact in the story is quite gross, like bloody sheets and pus.

If you've known anyone with severe eczema, it's not a pretty sight. I've had mild eczema flare ups that required steroid cream treatment.

The issue for Hossa is that the meds to treat it got to the point where he was risking serious side effects and it was getting worse.

"The Cyclosporine reduced some of the itching and the symptoms, but it wasn’t perfect. It also complicated Hossa’s life in other ways. For one, Hossa had to take three pills in the morning and three at night.

The drug can be so dangerous the FDA has given it a black box warning. Some of the possible side effects include an increased risk of serious infections, higher blood pressure, kidney disease, tumor and skin cancer. Hossa went to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for testing every two weeks."

So at that point he decided it wasn't worth it. And Hossa is by no means the only person to have eczema outbreaks from hockey equipment. If you really want to get a sense of what he was dealing with search 'severe eczema' on Google images.

Incidentally the Blackhawks beat reporters didn't know about the condition but it explained certain behaviour like a lot of missed practices and even Hossa asking to do post practice interviews via phone.

 

[JaegerDice]

A rare condition that he somehow managed until he was set to earn 1 million a year. And the team was set to pay full cap.

A rare condition that he controlled with toxic medication that was doing a number on his kidneys. His doctors recommend he stop taking the medication for his own safety.

Its legitimately difficult for me to understand the position that a player should risk [even more] significant health issues just for the sake of optics.