Status of unsigned Euro's drafted before 2002?

[Buffaloed]

Euro's drafted in 2005 will be treated the same as CHL players, and those drafted prior will be considered "defected transition players" whose rights are retained for 4 years.

This is from last week.
http://wwww.postgazette.com/pg/05202/541229.stm

It is not known if Europeans drafted before 2002 will remain property of the NHL clubs that hold their rights or be declared free agents.

I'm wondering specifically if the Sabres will lose the rights to Artem Kryukov (aka The European Lindros) if they don't sign him in the next 75 minutes.

Click to read more...

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

I'm interested as well because I don't want the Sens to lose the rights to Alexei Kaigorodov.

 

[Chaos]

Certainly hope not, otherwise the Stars could lose Hagos and Jokinen.

 

[Lowetide]

And Mikhnov would no longer be Oiler property.

 

[h2]

I'm interested as well because I don't want the Sens to lose the rights to Alexei Kaigorodov.

I have the same concern.

 

[MS]

Euro's drafted in 2005 will be treated the same as CHL players, and those drafted prior will be considered "defected transition players" whose rights are retained for 4 years.

Just so I'm sure on this since I haven't been able to pay full attention ...

This means that a 1987-born Euro prospect must be signed by June 2007 or goes back into the draft?

 

[Buffaloed]

Just so I'm sure on this since I haven't been able to pay full attention ...

This means that a 1987-born Euro prospect must be signed by June 2007 or goes back into the draft?

That's the way I understand it from various articles pieced together. It would be nice if the NHL put out a release on this since it is that time of year.

Other big winners in the new CBA will be European players, whose rights now come into line with their North American counterparts. Late-blooming Europeans will now have to be signed as free agents because the new deal stipulates that they can only be drafted until the age of 22. More importantly, teams will have only two years after they draft a European to sign him, the same way it is with North Americans. Previously, teams could draft Europeans and basically hold their rights in perpetuity.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Co...ageid=968867503640&col=970081593064&t=TS_Home

 

[MS]

That completely changes the whole draft then.

What's the point of drafting a European in the mid-late rounds? Even those picks that are successful in that range rarely come to North America until they're 22-23 years old after they've completed a few seasons in their top domestic league. You can pretty much carve in stone that most Euros will now just wait until they're 22 to pick and choose where they want to go as UFAs.

If people thought the Van Ryn loophole was bad, this will be 100x worse. Completely idiotic.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

It's really not that big of a deal. If an Ovechkin or Malkin is eligible, they will be drafted no question about it. The rest will be signed as free agents at age 22. With a salary cap in tow, the spending won't get out of hand.

Before, we used to see a Daniel Alfredsson come out of nowhere in the draft and become a star. The Daniel Alfredsson's of the world will still be around, but they won't be drafted...they'll be found as UFA's.

I don't see what the problem is.

 

[A Good Flying Bird*]

Well

I think that kind of thinking really starts to undermine the idea of the draft.
Then again, with a salary cap, maybe a draft isn't so important anymore.

 

[MS]

It's really not that big of a deal. If an Ovechkin or Malkin is eligible, they will be drafted no question about it. The rest will be signed as free agents at age 22. With a salary cap in tow, the spending won't get out of hand.

Before, we used to see a Daniel Alfredsson come out of nowhere in the draft and become a star. The Daniel Alfredsson's of the world will still be around, but they won't be drafted...they'll be found as UFA's.

I don't see what the problem is.

The draft used to be fairly balanced in terms of where you were picking guys from. If the best available Euro was better than the best available NA player, you'd pick him. Same the other way around. Now teams will have to pass on superior talents because they know odds are they won't be able to sign them.

Basically this will just turn European scouting into a free-agent free-for-all amongst 22 y/o players ... every year a whole crapload of guys will become UFAs and it will be pretty much a bidding war for their services, at least as much as there can be given the entry level restrictions. 18 y/o scouting becomes much less relevant.

I liked the draft the way it was. I think most fans did too. The longer rights-holding period for Europeans was there for a very good reason - most Euros take longer to get to pro hockey in North America than domestic players do. I don't see why there had to be major changes.

 

[The Maltais Falcon]

I've heard that players drafted before 2002 have to be signed by next summer, but I dunno.

 

[habsfansam]

Don't we have to face the reality that most euros that make it big in the NHL are either drafted as superstars in the making (Kovalchuk, Ovechkin, Forsberg, etc.) or they develop in the season or 2 after the draft (Zetterberg, Perezhogin, Frolov). The guys that develop much later are usually the ones that end up as late round (8/9) picks as 27 yr olds (Streit, Zidlicky, etc). Point being, this isn't forcing a hand, it's simply removing unused items from the cupboard.