With this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs a month away, we’re looking back at last year’s playoffs – specifically Nikita Koucherov he missed the entire regular season and then became a star for the Lightning in the playoffs. Lots of important discussions about this.
Pierre LeBrun: And certainly not discussions that led to rule changes, because ultimately this is a broader discussion. But the important thing to remember is that the discussion is not dead. Ken Holland of the Edmonton Oilers is the GM who started this discussion about LTIR and a potential playoff cap. And the decision is to resume this discussion during the draft in Montreal in July – there may be ways to refine this. And NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly later said he had already had discussions with the NHLPA on the matter. I think one of the other things we can also see here is that there’s been a lot of white noise around Vegas and how they’ve handled LTIR this year. Last year it was Tampa, this year it’s Vegas, at least in perception. Gary Bettman and Bill Daly couldn’t be more emphatic in saying that Vegas has been transparent, that there are no problems in the way they run their LTIR business – and that’s it.
Darren Dreger: Bettman was adamant that it wasn’t a big deal. In fact, he called it a “perception problem” regarding the National Hockey League media, perhaps, and certainly the fan base. But it’s something we’ll have to work on with the National Hockey League Players’ Association. All of this is contained in the ABC. So if you go to the Players Association and say, “Look, we need to make an amendment here, because there could be – at least the perception – of a competitive imbalance” in the playoffs, after the season regular? Okay, what are you going to give us to make this happen? That’s why they push him forward. This is a concept that requires more discussion, even more negotiation.
And while it may take a little longer, there’s another pressing issue they want to address right now.
Chris Johnston: This would be how no-trade clauses and limited no-trade clauses are handled with player contracts. As we leave the general managers’ meetings on Tuesday, they are essentially finalizing an agreement with the NHL Players’ Association that when these lists are submitted by a player, they will also be transmitted to a central NHL registry. and the NHLPA itself and eventually they will build a database on this. Of course, this follows the Evgeny Dadonov trade – and then canceled the trade – because the league was unaware of his no-trade clause when this trade from Vegas to Anaheim was initially approved. So this is a way to save them in the future. I know there’s some concern among agents – I know Allan Walsh was on Twitter on Tuesday saying all these lists were going to be leaked – maybe that’s one of the downsides. But it’s clear the NHL and NHLPA can’t let this happen to players either.
Another topic of conversation – international hockey…
The brown : As Dregs recently reported, plans for the World Cup of Hockey are continuing for 2024. But in particular, the fact that it is returning to the traditional field, the first time the league has publicly confirmed that it will not There were more young stars from Team North America – I know this upset a lot of people on Twitter because they loved this team in 2016 – but they’re going back to traditional.
Johnston: They weren’t ready to confirm much else, but it’s pretty far away in terms of an 18-team tournament, play-ins as Dregs reported last week, and likely in multiple cities even if everything is not specified. Time is running out here, they need to finalize this matter.
Speaking of young stars, are the conversations continuing between the NHL and CHL?
Drège: They need to reach an agreement with the CHL. It has been renewed several times due to the pandemic. Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly acknowledged he would be in contact with CHL President Dan MacKenzie. The general managers coming out of Tuesday’s meetings want to talk more about 19-year-olds playing in the American Hockey League and it feels like every March when we’re healthy enough to be in an environment facing face, the subject returns. I know Kelly McCrimmon of the Vegas Golden Knights gave a very impassioned account – as the former owner of the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings – telling general managers (there are 11 new players) how devastating it would be for the CHL if they introduced 19 year old players at the AHL level.
