News From Around the League Part XLVIII - FREE AGENT NOT-MUCH-FRENZY Edition

[Devils Dominion]

Pens et kids in free to their game with Cbj.

Pens do the best marketing and fan relations in the league.

 

[Sarge18]

Every team in the league aside from the Habs papers attendance to some extent.

Some fans, who are naïve, use ESPN's attendance chart like it's gospel.
I sit back and laugh at them or shake my head every time they use it in an argument (usually to bash our fanbase).

All along fans like myself and others have been telling you that some teams, especially Florida, papers tickets like a copier that won't shut off.

Good to see their owners putting an end to giving away 5k free tix per night.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-p...er-attendance--for-good-reason-214429811.html

Looks like Kussin is hard at work down there.

 

[manilaNJ]

Boston signed Krug & Smith for matching 1 year, $1.4 million deals.
They're going to be cap compliant once Savard is LTIR'd

Not a bad deal for Boston for the time being. But they'll definitely still need to unload some salary before next summer -- when both have more arbitration rights.

 

[Capt Nico Poo]

Why would anyone even WANT Markstrom? He's been terribad in both Florida and Vancouver.

I smell case Eric Boulton here. Markström was always good vs. Devils, just lke Eric mother****ing Boulton scored a hat trick against Devils in Atlanta and we signed him the next season..

 

[Bleedred]

I smell case Eric Boulton here. Markström was always good vs. Devils, just lke Eric mother****ing Boulton scored a hat trick against Devils in Atlanta and we signed him the next season..

Markstrom is 1-3-0 against the Devils, with a GAA of well over 3. Shockingly enough a bad goaltender has actually been bad against the Devils.

 

[Brodeur]

I smell case Eric Boulton here. Markström was always good vs. Devils, just lke Eric mother****ing Boulton scored a hat trick against Devils in Atlanta and we signed him the next season..

Markstrom is 1-3-0 against the Devils, with a GAA of well over 3. Shockingly enough a bad goaltender has actually been bad against the Devils.

Yeah it was weird, Markstrom had an inordinate amount of starts against us to start his career. Wasn't really impressed by him in those starts, but he had a fair amount of hype behind him.

Wasn't surprised by Markstrom not being claimed; Winnipeg is basically the only team that has an open spot and they probably weren't interested in Markstrom's salary.

 

[Capt Nico Poo]

Yeah it was weird, Markstrom had an inordinate amount of starts against us to start his career. Wasn't really impressed by him in those starts, but he had a fair amount of hype behind him.

Wasn't surprised by Markstrom not being claimed; Winnipeg is basically the only team that has an open spot and they probably weren't interested in Markstrom's salary.

Every time we played Markström this board went nuts over his pad size and how the back-up always plays so well against us. I think once he had a bad night, other than that we struggled and won like in OT.

 

[NJDevs26]

I remember one of Markstrom's games coming in relief when Clemmensen gave up two goals in the first period. Then he gave up three more during our white-hot stretch in '10-11. That was the only time we did beat Pete's lousy team that year I think though.

 

[Bleedred]

I remember one of Markstrom's games coming in relief when Clemmensen gave up two goals in the first period. Then he gave up three more during our white-hot stretch in '10-11. That was the only time we did beat Pete's lousy team that year I think though.

Haha yeah I remember this. It was my last season still in Jersey, so I was definitely in attendance.

As far as complaining about big goalies and equipment, you're thinking of almost every huge pad guy we play. Markstrom was one of the only big goalies we didn't particularly struggle against.

 

[The 29th Pick]

the Leafs have released Henrik Tallinder from camp tryout

 

[manilaNJ]

the Leafs have released Henrik Tallinder from camp tryout

He's injured. Took a hard hit during a game, I think.
Never saw a time table of recovery, but it's pretty likely that he starts the season without a job.

 

[The 29th Pick]

He's injured. Took a hard hit during a game, I think.
Never saw a time table of recovery, but it's pretty likely that he starts the season without a job.

yeah he injured his shoulder
I'd say his NHL career is over, maybe he heads across the pond, back home

 

[Desert Devil]

http://www.nhl.com/ice/blogpost.htm?id=32102&navid=nhl:topheads

Sounds like they are at least considering having another World Cup of Hockey. That would be awesome.

 

[Classic Devil]

http://www.nhl.com/ice/blogpost.htm?id=32102&navid=nhl:topheads

Sounds like they are at least considering having another World Cup of Hockey. That would be awesome.

Not if it's coming at the expense of NHL players at the Olympics.

 

[manilaNJ]

TG went off on this a bit, and it's not really anything critical to the league... I just find it interesting:
(to fill in for those who don't know, Oilers had a tryout at their camp that they tried to sign, then contracted was rejected because he's draft eligible in 2015)

Tom Gulitti @TGfireandice · 13m 13 minutes ago
Is it permitted for any draft eligible player to play in NHL preseason games? If not, why didn't anyone stop Tkachev from doing so w/Oilers?

Tom Gulitti @TGfireandice · 6m 6 minutes ago
Doesn't seem to make sense that a player ineligible to be signed (and it's happened before) is permitted to play in NHL preseason games.

This isn't the first instance of this happening.
There was Hyka with the Flyers in 2011 (then drafted by LA in 2012)
Walker with the Caps in 2013 (then drafted by the caps in 2014)

It seems to be brushed off as an "obscure" or "overlooked" part of the CBA - but figuring out a player's draft eligibility shouldn't be anymore difficult for an office to calculate than waiver eligibility. Or buyout numbers.

Does the league office have to look at (approve) ATO/PTOs from here on out or do they already?

 

[Brodeur]

Reading the language of the CBA is kinda ugly. Tkachev unfortunately is victim of a black and white rule.

Basically there's a window to sign an undrafted guy with remaining draft eligibility if the guy played the previous season in North America. Carolina did this with Sergei Tolchinsky last year. The Kings did it in the past with Martin Jones. And there have been a handful of other guys.

Tkachev played most of last season in Quebec, but also played a couple games in the KHL and its junior league. So he wasn't eligible to be signed since he has remaining draft eligibility as a "European". As TG mentioned, this happened a couple years ago with Tomas Hyka. The Flyers thought they could sign him because he was going to go play in the Q, but he was ineligible to be signed because he played the previous year in Europe.

A few years back, I know that Radko Gudas impressed as an undrafted invite to the Kings' prospect camp. They would have liked to have signed him, but they knew they weren't allowed to. Gudas ended up playing in the WHL, boosted his stock, and got taken in the 3rd round by Tampa. I don't know if it was a coincidence or not, but when Gudas went off the board, LA traded away one of its 3rd rounders a few minutes later.

Tkachev was just a weird case since he played in Europe and North America last season. From what I can remember, the CBA language was a little vague in this respect but obviously the NHL told Edmonton how it was supposed to be interpreted.

 

[manilaNJ]

I can see where the lines are blurry. I'm just wondering if the league has to approve ATOs (like any contract or transaction) currently?

If not, this seems to be turning into a recurring case, so why not give the stamp of approval/disapproval before the camp invite is accepted?

Why should an offer from a team be eligible if said team isn't eligible to sign them?
No benefit to the team.
Potential risk for the player if they injure themselves in meaningless games.

Just seems like a simple step to take to save an inexperienced kid some unnecessary trouble as he tries to break into the league.

 

[njdevil26]

I don't think the league has to approve any tryouts. It's up to the players to pay for their own insurance. That was a reason Gelinas wasn't going to come to camp without a contact.

 

[manilaNJ]

I don't think the league has to approve any tryouts. It's up to the players to pay for their own insurance. That was a reason Gelinas wasn't going to come to camp without a contact.

Gelinas and Carter are different than what I'm talking about.

Tryout agreements are covered by the team and they have limited obligations to whichever team's invitation they accept.

It's a contract, like any other RFA or UFA signing. The player has no free agency until his team releases him from it.

It just seems odd to me that A. instances seem to come up this time nearly every year as of late and that B. the league/teams keep missing out on it regardless.

I just think it'd be worth it for the league to approve a tryout agreement like any other contract (that's how this all came up). There's a lot of complicated math in the NHL -- waiver eligibility, buyout calculations, etc, but there's always someone to crunch those numbers.

You can nearly do the job yourself just by pulling up a hockeydb page on the player... http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=163405

It seems worth the effort to me - I mean, I don't really care how teams shoot themselves in the foot, but this is a pretty screwy situation for a young player to be in.

 

[Brodeur]

I can see where the lines are blurry. I'm just wondering if the league has to approve ATOs (like any contract or transaction) currently?

Dug up the actual CBA text and it's not quite as confusing as I remembered. Still kinda ugly to read, but it seems pretty cut and dry that Tkachev's deal was voided because of clause iii.

8.9 Eligibility for Play in the League. No Player shall be eligible for play in the League
unless he:

(a) had been claimed in the last Entry Draft, or was ineligible for claim under Section
8.4; or

(b) had been eligible for claim in the last Entry Draft, but was unclaimed, and:

(i) had played hockey in North America the prior season and was age 20 or
older at the time of the last Entry Draft, and signed an SPC which was
signed and registered with the League between the conclusion of the Entry
Draft and commencement of the next NHL Season.

(ii) had played hockey in North America the prior season and was under age
20 at the time of the last Entry Draft, and signed an SPC which was signed
and registered with the League between the conclusion of the Entry Draft
and commencement of the Major Juniors season (except that if such
Player had signed an NHL try-out form, which was signed and registered
with the League during the aforesaid time period, then the deadline for
signing and registering with the League an SPC with such try-out Club
shall be the commencement of the NHL Season).

(iii) had played hockey outside of North America in the prior season and was
age 22 or older at the time of the last Entry Draft and signed an SPC which
was signed and registered with the League between the conclusion of the
Entry Draft and the commencement of the next NHL Season.

(iv) The words "eligible for claim in the last Entry Draft" in subparagraph (b)
above mean "eligible for claim in all rounds of the last Entry Draft." The
words "the prior season" in subparagraph (i), (ii) and (iii) above mean "a
full season prior to the last Entry Draft."

 

[MadDevil]

Watch the Flames draft the kid, just to piss the Oilers off.

 

[Devils Dominion]

Just saw on WPIX ch 11 news, the Flyers are bringing back their ice girls after their fans voiced displeasure at preseason games.

Nice to know some hockey franchise listens to their fans.
Must be nice.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Just saw on WPIX ch 11 news, the Flyers are bringing back their ice girls after their fans voiced displeasure at preseason games.

Nice to know some hockey franchise listens to their fans.
Must be nice.

they got rid of them because there was a story reported about how they were treated like crap and made next to nothing pay wise. I would hope they addressed this issue instead of ignoring it because fans want something to look at during TV timeouts.

 

[njdevils1982]

they got rid of them because there was a story reported about how they were treated like crap and made next to nothing pay wise. I would hope they addressed this issue instead of ignoring it because fans want something to look at during TV timeouts.

i go to watch hockey......a minute and a half of tarts with shovels? who ****in cares.....i treat the TV breaks in play like i do at home..... i dont even notice.

 

[MadDevil]

Just saw on WPIX ch 11 news, the Flyers are bringing back their ice girls after their fans voiced displeasure at preseason games.

Nice to know some hockey franchise listens to their fans.
Must be nice.

Yes, we should strive to be more like the Philadelphia Flyers...