With one month to go until this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, we take a look back at last year’s playoffs, specifically Nikita Kucherov missing the entire regular season and then becoming a star for the Lightning in the playoffs. Lots of important discussions about that.
Pierre LeBrun: And certainly not discussions that led to rule changes, because ultimately it’s a broader debate. But the takeaway is that the debate is not dead. Ken Holland of the Edmonton Oilers is the GM who started this debate about LTIR and a potential playoff cap. And the decision is to bring that debate back to the draft in Montreal in July – there may be ways to adjust that. And NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said afterward that he’s already had discussions with the NHLPA about that. 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 terms of perception. Gary Bettman and Bill Daly couldn’t be more adamant that Vegas has been transparent, that there is no problem with how they are handling their LTIR deal – and that’s it.
Darren Dreger: Bettman made it clear that it’s not a big deal. In fact, he called it a “perception issue” within the National Hockey League media, and certainly the fan base. But it’s something that’s going to have to be worked out with the National Hockey League Players’ Association. It’s all contained in the collective bargaining agreement. 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 regular season, okay, what are you going to give us to make that happen? That’s why they’re pushing this idea. It’s a concept that requires more discussion, if not more negotiation.
And while it may take a little longer, there is another pressing issue they want to address right now.
Chris Johnston: That’s how no-trade clauses and limited no-trade clauses are handled in player contracts. As we leave the GM meetings on Tuesday, they’re finalizing an agreement with the NHL Players’ Association that when those lists are submitted by a player, they’re also going to be sent to a central registry of the NHL and the NHLPA itself and eventually they’re going to create a database of that. Of course, that’s coming off the back of the Evgeny Dadonov The agent made a trade and then rescinded it because the league didn’t know about his no-trade clause when the Vegas-to-Anaheim deal was initially approved. So this is a way to protect them going forward. I know there’s concern among agents – I know Allan Walsh said on Twitter Tuesday that all of these lists are now going to be released – that may be one of the downsides. But clearly the NHL and NHLPA can’t allow this to happen to players either.
Another topic of conversation – international hockey…
The brown : As Dregs reported recently, plans for the World Cup of Hockey are still moving forward for 2024. But in particular, the fact that it’s going back to the traditional arena, the first time the league has publicly confirmed that there will no longer be a Team North America Young Stars – I know this upset a lot of people on Twitter because they loved that team in 2016 – but they’re going back to the traditional.
Johnston: They weren’t ready to confirm much else, but it’s pretty far out in terms of an 18-team tournament, a play-in as Dregs reported last week, and likely multiple cities, though it’s not all hammered out yet. They’re running out of time here, they need to finalize this thing.
Speaking of young stars, are conversations continuing between the NHL and CHL?
Dreger: They have to get a deal done with the CHL. It’s been rolled over a couple of times because of the pandemic. Deputy commissioner Bill Daly has acknowledged he’ll be in touch 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 seems like every March when we’re healthy enough to be face-to-face, it comes up. 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 the general managers (there’s 11 new guys in there) how devastating it would be for the CHL if they brought 19-year-olds into the AHL.
