NHL 2010/2011

[Gabriel]

It looks like the Islanders have grabbed Nabokov. For the low price, I don't see why any team with issues in net would not take a chance on him.

Because he won't report to the Island. A lot of teams were probably fearing this outcome, and it turned out that it's exactly what happened. Nabokov won't report, and so they can either suspend him and tell him to fuck himself, or they can put him back on waivers or try to make a trade, assuming he'll allow them to.

I thought the whole idea of him coming back was so he could play for the remainder of the season and earn himself a contract for next year, but apparently that's just not going to suffice.

[caucasianheat]

Getting shelled every night playing for the defensively wretched Islanders (among the league's worst in goals against) would pretty much guarantee that Nabokov doesn't get a good offer next time around I think. He's smart to wait and hold out for the team that he actually made an agreement with rather than being strongarmed by the CBA.

This waiver rule is baffling and really obtuse, I hope it's taken out when the CBA is renegotiated because I can't see a legitimate, positive reason for its existence.

[Gabriel]

I don't like it either. I think it's ridiculous that someone can do all the work to negotiate a contract that works for both sides, sign the player, and then have someone else swoop in and pick them up.

It needs to be changed, but right now, it is what it is. He should man up and play for the team that picked him up.

If I were Garth Snow in this situation, I'd tell him he can play the year out with the Islanders, or he can sit at home... or maybe the whole idea behind this was so that Snow could manipulate his way into grabbing a draft pick or two from the Wings if they really want Nabokov.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

The point of waivers is to stop teams from hoarding a bunch of good players in the AHL. Less of an issue now that there's a cap, but at least until the lockout, it was useful if not essential.

[Gabriel]

The point of waivers is to stop teams from hoarding a bunch of good players in the AHL. Less of an issue now that there's a cap, but at least until the lockout, it was useful if not essential.

Waivers in general are great. I love that teams are forced to make tough decisions regarding their 23-man rosters, making guys available to other teams for little to no cost.

I don't, however, agree with the idea of new signings having to go through waivers to join the team that signed them. On a similar note, I don't agree with the idea of being able to sign players past the opening month or two of the season. Anyone who signs after, say November or December 1st, should not be allowed to play in the NHL. There's a reason we have developmental systems, and it's so that if you need the extra bodies, they are there.

[Plubby]

Waivers also stops teams who have issues with a player solve them by just burying them in the minors. Removes the chance for GM's and Coaches to punish players for slight infractions by sending them down

[sahyder1]

Question for Canadian folks. All HNIC broadcasts aren't HD? I'm watching the Leafs game here in the US and NHL Network only has a SD feed playing. They usually have the HD one. They were showing it in HD when they showed the Montreal pregame stuff.

Edit: Nevermind, they have it in HD now. I guess it was just technical difficulties.

Edited January 23, 2011 by sahyder1

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

I know there was an issue a couple years ago where they only had two HD trucks and some fairly important stuff was missing out on being HD, but I'm pretty sure that's not the case anymore.

I thought all HNIC telecasts were HD now, but I'm not 100% on that and I don't have a HDTV out here so I can't say for sure.

Suppose it's possible they only have three HD trucks, used one for the Habs, one for the late game, and one in Victoria for the figure skating, but my first instinct is that NHL Network is using the SD feed for some odd reason on their end.

[sahyder1]

I know there was an issue a couple years ago where they only had two HD trucks and some fairly important stuff was missing out on being HD, but I'm pretty sure that's not the case anymore.

I thought all HNIC telecasts were HD now, but I'm not 100% on that and I don't have a HDTV out here so I can't say for sure.

Suppose it's possible they only have three HD trucks, used one for the Habs, one for the late game, and one in Victoria for the figure skating, but my first instinct is that NHL Network is using the SD feed for some odd reason on their end.

HD feed is back. I guess it was just technical difficulties.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Yeah I saw your edit

[SeanDMan]

This waiver rule is baffling and really obtuse, I hope it's taken out when the CBA is renegotiated because I can't see a legitimate, positive reason for its existence.

I don't like it either. I think it's ridiculous that someone can do all the work to negotiate a contract that works for both sides, sign the player, and then have someone else swoop in and pick them up.

The rule is in place exactly for situations like this. Consider:

Let's pretend for now that Joey MacDonald was rights owned by Detroit (he isn't; he's an NHL UFA, but let's pretend). We could even say he's not and simply that he was signed. Now, Joey Mac is on Detroits farm when Chris Osgood gets hurt. Since Joey Mac is 30 and he's played in the NHL, in order to come from the AHL to the NHL, he has to clear through waivers. In order to have him sent to the AHL before the season, he'd have had to pass through waivers too, which might clear him for (I think it's) 20 days. But then after that date, if called up, he'd have to go through waivers.

So why, given that, should a player coming over from the KHL be different? A player being signed to come up and play for the main team is fine EXCEPT that it encourages NHL teams to use the KHL as a veritable farm system if those players are waiver exempt. The primary use of the AHL is to season younger, waiver exempt players (primarily under 24 players). However, at times, teams want a player with experience. That's fine, but players with experience have to pass through waivers. The primary reason for this is so that teams with lots of cash can't simply sign up veteran players willy nilly then dump them in the AHL until needed, but if there is a loophole for the KHL, teams with lots of cash can simply tell a player "Hey, play a few months for Magnitagorsk, and then we'll sign you if we have an opening" and bring that guy in. It's a silly loophole if the waiver rules that prevent you from stockpiling and cherry picking AHL veterans doesn't apply just because they go to make their money in Russia instead.

People act like the cap makes teams with lots of money equal to teams with not a lot of money. This simply isn't true. It doesn't matter if the league has a 56 million dollar cap or a 65 million dollar cap if a team has a 35 million dollar budget. Especially when some contracts DON'T count against the cap if they're in the minors, thus ensuring you can just stockpile them and pay them under the table without having them on the ledger. Columbus, Nashville, Florida, the Islanders... they don't have the cash flow around to do that. Detroit on the other hand makes buckets of money, so they can easily stock an entire KHL team with their future considerations and not have that count against their cap.

That would need to be eliminated in the CBA.

The rule, as it stands, works to do what it should do; prevent teams from circumventing the waiver restrictions and treat foreign teams as their AHL affiliate.

[SeanDMan]

This rule is also in place to prevent NHL teams from stealing players from KHL teams and their fans. Imagine how pissed you would be if a KHL team signed your favourite NHL player and he just jumped over to Russia and was gone, and now your team sucked nuts.

[Plubby]

Isn't that what started this whole Nabokov thing?

[caucasianheat]

Tremendously informative, thanks Sean. My one remaining gripe is that I think there should be caveat made for players like Wellwood (and Svatos?) who head for foreign leagues because they're cut out of camp on tryout contracts. My thought is that they should further complicate this process by treating those players pretty much as offseason free agents since every NHL team has basically passed on them once already.

[Toe]

http://leafsfanforever.blogspot.com/2011/01/time-for-change.html

I updated my blog for the first time in forever. Why does Dwayne Roloson always beat the Leafs?

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Jeff Skinner is a fucking 18-year-old NHL all-star.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

This team-versus-team format for the Skills competition is dumb. I want to know who the most accurate shooter and fastest skater are, not who's faster than one other guy.

[Plubby]

You're dumb. I love it.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Really?

I mean, did a single person care which team won the competition overall? I doubt it.

[SeanDMan]

...they've always done the superskills in teams? They just used to pick the teams by conference instead of draft.