Official NHL 2006 Off-Season Thread

[Triumph36]

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did Nolan even play at all last year? or in any team/league during the lockout?


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No and no. In 2004-05 he was rehabbing his injured knee - I have no clue what he was doing with himself last year.

My suspicion is that Nolan is finished unless he's going to re-invent himself as a forechecking/defensive forward. He wasn't even that good before the lockout.

[Wes Mantooth]

Predators signed JP Dumont to a two year deal, link

Hurricanes added both David Tanabe and Brad Isbister, both signed one year contracts.

[lozen]

Oilers picked to miss playoffs. Ouch

[wh1t3bread]

Mantooth-

Any new rumors on how the Devils are going to get under the cap? Only a complete idiot of a GM would trade for Malakhov (so maybe the Islanders want him). What's up with Gionta?

[Triumph36]

I'll jump in on this -

It was thought that the Devils could trade Malakhov to Pittsburgh or Washington, since neither team will make it anywhere near the salary cap - it was thought that Malakhov has no interest in playing in the NHL, so he would just be dead money on the cap. Either the NHL nixed that idea, or neither team would go for it, because Lou L. supposedly invited Malakhov to camp. It's also being speculated that if Malakhov refuses to come to camp that Lou is going to try to get his contract off the books by again suspending him, and that he will try to put Mogilny on IR to avoid having that contract count. I don't think the NHL front office will buy that.

It's thought also that Brian Gionta already has a multi-year deal in place - he just can't sign it until this situation is resolved. Once Dan McGillis is able to be sent to the minors, a few more million will come off the cap - if Lou can swing some sort of deal that cuts more salary, Gionta will be signed ASAP - he, Martin, and Hale might have to miss training camp as a result of this fiasco.

[Zurvan]

Apparently, there's been a small change to the CBA in the off season, that allows clubs to cut 1 or 2 veteran players during a short window in training camp, and not have their salaries count on the Cap. I do think they still have to pay them. I only half heard it last night on the TV, but that's how I understood it.

[72off]

[ QUOTE ]
Apparently, there's been a small change to the CBA in the off season, that allows clubs to cut 1 or 2 veteran players during a short window in training camp, and not have their salaries count on the Cap. I do think they still have to pay them. I only half heard it last night on the TV, but that's how I understood it.

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That would suck. Bring in some change to bail out teams like the Devils who seemed like they didn't bother to read the new CBA last year.

[Triumph36]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Apparently, there's been a small change to the CBA in the off season, that allows clubs to cut 1 or 2 veteran players during a short window in training camp, and not have their salaries count on the Cap. I do think they still have to pay them. I only half heard it last night on the TV, but that's how I understood it.

[/ QUOTE ]

That would suck. Bring in some change to bail out teams like the Devils who seemed like they didn't bother to read the new CBA last year.

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As written, the clause in the CBA which is forcing the Devils' hand is incredibly stupid. If Vladimir Malakhov had died in a skiing accident the Devils would be on the hook for his salary.

I understand why it is there - it's there to prevent a team from front-loading a contract for a big-name player who intends to retire so he counts very little on the cap, then he retires and his contract disappears from the cap. As such, the rule should only apply to front-loaded contracts.

[Peca277]

Has anyone looked into getting NHL Center Ice? I know for me in Northern VA and my friend in SoCal it isn't available yet. Anyone experience different, or have this years prices?

It's less than 2 weeks until pre-season games, less than a month until regular season action... what are they thinking????

[72off]

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As written, the clause in the CBA which is forcing the Devils' hand is incredibly stupid. If Vladimir Malakhov had died in a skiing accident the Devils would be on the hook for his salary.

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Well like I said earlier, perhaps Lou should have bothered to read the new CBA. There's a reason why very few guys over 35 have gotten more than a 1 year deal. He gave such deals to Malakhov and Mogilny (anyone else?), it's his problem to deal with now. I don't feel the league should save him from himself.

[ QUOTE ]
I understand why it is there - it's there to prevent a team from front-loading a contract for a big-name player who intends to retire so he counts very little on the cap, then he retires and his contract disappears from the cap. As such, the rule should only apply to front-loaded contracts.

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I think a different part of the CBA deals with that problem, and that is the averaging of a contract when calculating the cap hit. For example if I signed a 4 year deal for $14m, with years paying $2m, $3m, $4m, and $5m the cap hit would be $3.5m in each year, regardless of how the team wants to pay me each season. So backloading or frontloading is only an issue when trading a player now.

As for why they put that clause in there, I guess it's so teams can't get (pay off?) old players with bad contracts to retire in order to free up cap room. The NBA has a similar provision with retired players, and their cap hit can only be removed if it can be proven that a player's career was ended by injury.

I imagine in the case that a player 35 or older did die the league would remove cap hit from the team. I don't really want to find out for sure though.