Prospect Info: Hurricanes select C Luke Henman #96 OA

[DaveG]

Haven't heard anything but then again the only product we have heard on is Cotton (and that Martin won't be signing). I'd imagine he's at least offered an ELC since he's not a Luke Stevens level whiff

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Still hssn't been signed to this point despite a 75 point season as a 19-year-old. Is this merely negotiations and uncertainty = as this seems to have been the trend this year - or have the Canes moved on and are willing to let him re-enter the draft?

 

[WreckingCrew]

Still hssn't been signed to this point despite a 75 point season as a 19-year-old. Is this merely negotiations and uncertainty = as this seems to have been the trend this year - or have the Canes moved on and are willing to let him re-enter the draft?

I don't see any reason the Canes WOULDN'T give him an ELC...I think there's just a lot of uncertainty right now and most things are on hold until we see what's going on the rest of this season and start of next

 

[Lempo]

I don't see any reason the Canes WOULDN'T give him an ELC...I think there's just a lot of uncertainty right now and most things are on hold until we see what's going on the rest of this season and start of next

To have kept his rights past the first June 1 after the Draft, Canes must already have made him an offer for a minimum salary ELC by June 2019. As one was not signed it means Henman declined this offer.

Obviously the players often don't seem to sign these minimum offers in hope of a better contract, similar to how pending RFAs decline their QOs even if by (playing it safe and) signing they would ensure getting a NHL SPC and by passing it they are not quaranteed getting another offer.

8.6 Reserve List-Exclusive Rights.

(a) Commencing with the 2013 Entry Draft, a Player selected by a Club in the Entry Draft shall be registered on the Reserve List of the selecting Club as an "Unsigned Draft Choice."

(i) Subject to the provisions of Sections (b), (c), (d) and (e) below, such registration shall establish for such selecting Club the exclusive right of negotiation for the services of each Player selected and registered as against all other Clubs up to and including June 1 of the next calendar year following the date of his selection.

(ii) Subject to the provisions of subsection (iii) below and Sections (b), (c) and (d) below, if, on or before June 1 of the calendar year next succeeding the Entry Draft, the claiming Club makes a Bona Fide Offer (as defined below) to its claimed Player of an SPC, the Club shall retain the exclusive right of negotiation for the services of such Player up to and including the second June 1 following the date of his selection.

(iii) Notwithstanding anything set forth in subsections (i) or (ii) above, if a Player is drafted for the first time at age 20 and re-enters the Entry Draft at age 22, the Club that selects him as a re-entry may retain the exclusive negotiating rights to the Player for only one (1) year and may not acquire exclusive negotiating rights to the Player for a second year by extending a Bona Fide Offer; provided, however, this provision shall not apply to a Player drafted from a club outside North America for the first time prior to the 2013 Entry Draft whose rights, under all circumstances, shall continue to be governed by Section 8.6(a)(ii).

(e) A "Bona Fide Offer" is an offer of an SPC which is for a period corresponding to the Player's age as required under Section 9.1(b) of this Agreement, is to commence at the start of the next League Year, offers at least the Minimum Paragraph 1 Salary as set forth in Section 11.12 of this Agreement for each League Year covered by such offer and remains open to the Player for at least thirty (30) days after receipt of the offer by the Player. A Bona Fide Offer may be conditioned upon acceptance by the Player within thirty (30) days and carries no right to salary arbitration.

College players (Section c) don't need to be made a bona fide offer for the team to retain their rights for four* years, or until the player stops being one. Ditto with players drafted from outside North America (Section D). But if a regular good old American** boy is on your reserve list for more than a year, it means that a minimum salary SPC has been open for his acceptance (and been declined).

* With caveats.
** Also the Quebecois count as Americans.

 

[tcat84]

To have kept his rights past the first June 1 after the Draft, Canes must already have made him an offer for a minimum salary ELC by June 2019. As one was not signed it means Henman declined this offer.

Obviously the players often don't seem to sign these minimum offers in hope of a better contract, similar to how pending RFAs decline their QOs even if by (playing it safe and) signing they would ensure getting a NHL SPC and by passing it they are not quaranteed getting another offer.





College players (Section c) don't need to be made a bona fide offer for the team to retain their rights for four* years, or until the player stops being one. Ditto with players drafted from outside North America (Section D). But if a regular good old American** boy is on your reserve list for more than a year, it means that a minimum salary SPC has been open for his acceptance (and been declined).

* With caveats.
** Also the Quebecois count as Americans.

Well what do you know... I did not know about this rule.

So apparently Bergevin said he's only signing one of Hillis, McShane and a couple other guys, Hillis signed the other day. So all these guys were offered contracts last June but they passed?? Hoefenmayer said he was motivated by ARZ letting him walk, but technically they offered him a deal back in 18' and he didn't take it?... It seems like almost every NA non-college player is retained for 2 years.

Very interesting, are these bona fide offers that much worse than standard ELC's

Edit: ok I looked it up. The Bonafide offer is the lowest possible 2way deal. Apparently around 40k per year with no signing bonus if they don't see the NHL. Meanwhile the standard 2way deal is 70k plus a signing bonus which looks like for a recent low pick in the draft is still like 200k+ spread out over 3 years...

So I get it now, taking that bona fide offer is just not done, it's just a formality.

 

[Lempo]

Well what do you know... I did not know about this rule.

So apparently Bergevin said he's only signing one of Hillis, McShane and a couple other guys, Hillis signed the other day. So all these guys were offered contracts last June but they passed?? Hoefenmayer said he was motivated by ARZ letting him walk, but technically they offered him a deal back in 18' and he didn't take it?... It seems like almost every NA non-college player is retained for 2 years.

Very interesting, are these bona fide offers that much worse than standard ELC's

Edit: ok I looked it up. The Bonafide offer is the lowest possible 2way deal. Apparently around 40k per year with no signing bonus if they don't see the NHL. Meanwhile the standard 2way deal is 70k plus a signing bonus which looks like for a recent low pick in the draft is still like 200k+ spread out over 3 years...

So I get it now, taking that bona fide offer is just not done, it's just a formality.

Good catch with the minimum AHL salary ($50k this year). I kind of have been wondering myself why these guys as a rule pass the chance of signing an NHL SPC, but now that you pointed it out obviously in practice they would more likely than not be signing for 3 x $50k instead of the usual AHL max $70k and at least some tens of k of signing bonus on top of that, with no chance of performance bonus of any kind.

Close-to-NHL-ready guys obviously get more lucrative offer before their first June 1st.

In comparison, Hillis here got himself nice games played bonuses for 20-21 and 21-22. 10+ games up in the NHL either year and he cashes beyond that minimum $150k in one season.

Cameron Hillis - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

 

[tcat84]

Looking up guys that are on ELCs it seems like Matt Luff took the lowest current contract and signing bonus: 50k base + 20k and another 15k signing bonus and no performance bonuses. But it's seemed to work out for him as he's had some NHL time

Matt Luff - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

Here's a link to the lowest minors salaries :

Browse - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

 

[Lempo]

Looking up guys that are on ELCs it seems like Matt Luff took the lowest current contract and signing bonus: 50k base + 20k and another 15k signing bonus and no performance bonuses. But it's seemed to work out for him as he's had some NHL time

Matt Luff - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

Here's a link to the lowest minors salaries :

Browse - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

So absolutely no one currently signed took the Bona Fide.

The rationale is obvious but I still got to wonder if the agents actively forbid their clients from taking it and/or if the teams intentionally play stick and carrot with it: when you get signed outside of the mandatory minimum offer you nigh-automatically* get a signing bonus, but you are let to understand that if you are fool enough to force the team to sign you you'll spend the whole of your ELC warming the bench in ECHL.

* an European guy coming from a pro league might decline the first year signing bonus for taxation reasons and negotiatw to get the corresponding money on a latter year.

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

My personal guess is that Henman will be signed. It seems like there are more drafted and unsigned CHL guys than usual at this point of the season due to COVID, and now that the NHL season is resuming, several guys are going to come off that list and get inked to ELCs shortly.

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

Some important news on the Henman front: it sounds like the NHL and the NHLPA have agreed to slide the June 1st signing deadline by one month, mostly due to the Romanov/Kaprizov/Sorokin situation. Henman and the Canes now have until July 1st to agree to an ELC.

 

[Lempo]

Sensible. The practical meaning of the June 1 deadline is to sort out the guys who will re-enter the Draft at the end on June, but now there is no haste for that.

Some overagers maybe will see their draft-related free agency postponed by a month.

 

[WreckingCrew]

Some important news on the Henman front: it sounds like the NHL and the NHLPA have agreed to slide the June 1st signing deadline by one month, mostly due to the Romanov/Kaprizov/Sorokin situation. Henman and the Canes now have until July 1st to agree to an ELC.

Sensible. The practical meaning of the June 1 deadline is to sort out the guys who will re-enter the Draft at the end on June, but now there is no haste for that.

Some overagers maybe will see their draft-related free agency postponed by a month.

Yup, my guess is everything will kind of arbitrarily "push out" by 1 month+ due to the delay in the season. Now whether or not they wait until playoffs are over? Who knows right now, but I would think they would want to push everything out a bit but keep the same "order" of dates - playoffs, draft, UFA (possibly including the start of next season). Now that they've announced the playoff plan, have they said anything more about the draft being during/after (maybe they have and I've missed it)...or is it pretty much all still in flux until things are a bit more certain?

 

[Lempo]

Yup, my guess is everything will kind of arbitrarily "push out" by 1 month+ due to the delay in the season. Now whether or not they wait until playoffs are over? Who knows right now, but I would think they would want to push everything out a bit but keep the same "order" of dates - playoffs, draft, UFA (possibly including the start of next season). Now that they've announced the playoff plan, have they said anything more about the draft being during/after (maybe they have and I've missed it)...or is it pretty much all still in flux until things are a bit more certain?

There are conditional trades of 2020 draft picks dependent on the final results of the season that will need to be resolved before the draft. Our TOR 1st 2020 or 2021 for example.

Keeping the proper order would be the no-hassle solution, but will the exclusive negotiation rights for new flesh be resolved before the season 20/21 will start overseas?

 

[WreckingCrew]

There are conditional trades of 2020 draft picks dependent on the final results of the season that will need to be resolved before the draft. Our TOR 1st 2020 or 2021 for example.

Keeping the proper order would be the no-hassle solution, but will the exclusive negotiation rights for new flesh be resolved before the season 20/21 will start overseas?

That's one of the really good questions...NHL can try and do it one way, but how will other leagues play along? And at one point weren't they toying with the idea of keeping the draft where it was and telling teams "you figure out how to resolve conditions from trades or we will for you"? Of course that might also have been when there was a potential for not finishing the season at all

 

[Lempo]

That's one of the really good questions...NHL can try and do it one way, but how will other leagues play along? And at one point weren't they toying with the idea of keeping the draft where it was and telling teams "you figure out how to resolve conditions from trades or we will for you"? Of course that might also have been when there was a potential for not finishing the season at all

I find this may be a plausible scenario how the conditions will be sorted out. I think there aren't too many such trades and each of them is a singular case, shouldn't be hard.

If we are still months away from actual hockey, the Draft kind of needs to happen at the normal time to keep the League in the headlines.

 

[MinJaBen]

If we are still months away from actual hockey, the Draft kind of needs to happen at the normal time to keep the League in the headlines.

Can’t happen at the normal time if we don’t have the lottery for the top three picks until the end of June.