Free Agents

[Commish Bub(NYR)]

Wow...sorry no one's been checking the free agents account for a few days. I'll post the outstanding offers; pm me if you want it rescinded, since the oldest offer has been in there for 5 days now.

[SharksGM]

Wow...sorry no one's been checking the free agents account for a few days. I'll post the outstanding offers; pm me if you want it rescinded, since the oldest offer has been in there for 5 days now.

We shouldn't let people sign free agents this late in the season anyways

[Dallas Stars GM]

We shouldn't let people sign free agents this late in the season anyways

Why not?

[MartyFromOTTAWA]

Wow...sorry no one's been checking the free agents account for a few days. I'll post the outstanding offers; pm me if you want it rescinded, since the oldest offer has been in there for 5 days now.

We shouldn't let people sign free agents this late in the season anyways

I agree, It doesn't make sense. As far as I can remember, I've never seen a NHL GM signing a free agent for the NHL team so late in a season.

[flyergp21]

But remember:

WE ARE EHEC, not the NHL...

[MartyFromOTTAWA]

But remember:

WE ARE EHEC, not the NHL...

That's actually the point dude. We should get a rule about it.

[flyergp21]

You don't get the point. What I've learned here, is that we can adopt any rule change, regardless of what the NHL does.

So if EHEC decides to let GMs sign UFA anytime, no problemo.

[SharksGM]

We do things differently in EHEC mainly to prevent tedious work or to work around aspects of EHM that aren't treated realistically. Like we allow picking up farm scrubs for minimal effort in place of AHL contracts, tryouts, loans, etc. Junior aged players can play in the AHL mainly because otherwise they develop way too slowly in juniors (although everything except STR develops too quickly in the AHL but that's why there's an underaged limit).

Letting teams release/buyout and sign new players after the trade deadline is neither here nor there. Generally the roster that a team + AHL affiliate has on deadline day is what they can run with in the playoffs, other than the odd case of prospects becoming available when their junior/college/Euro seasons end.

[MartyFromOTTAWA]

You don't get the point. What I've learned here, is that we can adopt any rule change, regardless of what the NHL does.

So if EHEC decides to let GMs sign UFA anytime, no problemo.

LOL
You're definitely thickheaded (no offense).
I'm saying that, IN THE SUMMERTIME, It should nice to discuss a rule about it.

[Commish Bub(NYR)]

Guys, the committee (or Triumvirate, if you prefer) is discussing this and will issue something about it soon. No rule changes will be forthcoming for the current season. We typically don't change rules mid-season unless something pretty egregious is going on. Like, say, Toronto making the playoffs.

[Jungle Cats]

Wouldn't a free agent signing from say Europe (where any player signed as a UFA is hypothetically playing) at this point in the season be subject to re-entry waivers?

[SharksGM]

Wouldn't a free agent signing from say Europe (where any player signed as a UFA is hypothetically playing) at this point in the season be subject to re-entry waivers?

That's what I thought, but lazy googling did not lead me to a quick summary of the rules in the current CBA. If you feel like looking it up, that would be helpful.

[Vik (Habs)]

If they've played a game in Europe before being signed by an NHL team in a season, they have to clear waivers regardless of when they're signed (for example, Antti Miettinen and Evgeni Nabokov a few years ago). Also, any player acquired after the trade deadline is ineligible to participate in the playoffs.

[SharksGM]

If they've played a game in Europe before being signed by an NHL team in a season, they have to clear waivers regardless of when they're signed (for example, Antti Miettinen and Evgeni Nabokov a few years ago). Also, any player acquired after the trade deadline is ineligible to participate in the playoffs.

What about college UFAs, college prospects, junior prospects, etc? I suppose it doesn't matter much for us because the best prospects are playing in the NHL anyways, but I seem to recall some drama about whether good juniors could join their NHL teams for the playoffs or not.

[Vik (Habs)]

If they've played a game in Europe before being signed by an NHL team in a season, they have to clear waivers regardless of when they're signed (for example, Antti Miettinen and Evgeni Nabokov a few years ago). Also, any player acquired after the trade deadline is ineligible to participate in the playoffs.

What about college UFAs, college prospects, junior prospects, etc? I suppose it doesn't matter much for us because the best prospects are playing in the NHL anyways, but I seem to recall some drama about whether good juniors could join their NHL teams for the playoffs or not.

College UFAs would be a no, prospects belonging to the team can though. You have to be on the team's reserve list (everyone the team has the rights to) at the deadline to be eligible.

That's actually what the trade deadline is. If two teams wanted to make a trade right now, they could. They just wouldn't be allowed to use the players in the postseason. In fact, it seems to me it happened years back. There was some post-deadline deal that I think involved Steven Goertzen.

Great now I gotta look it up.

...

Yep, Steven Goertzen for Nate DiCasmirro (household names as ever). They were traded for each other on February 28th, 2008 and the deadline that year was February 26th.

[SharksGM]

I'm pretty sure there was a post-deadline trade last season too, and it was for slightly better players than Steven Goertzen and the other guy.