OFFICIAL HOCKEY THREAD: NHL, KHL, NCAA, IIHL

[frink85]

Should've went with Silver Knights since Nevada is the silver state

 

[DeadsetAce]

i hope we expose McQuaid and Jimmy Hayes to the expansion draft

 

[jjs07]

I know I shouldn't be saying anything about that Burns contract b/c we got Orpik....but damn Fine now...but when he's on the wrong side of 35, whoa boy...


Also...as far as the Vegas Desert Knights. Not a bad name, but I wish they went w/ Aces or something along those lines.

From everything I've been reading on this, the NHL warned them against gambling references. This was a huge missed opportunity for a team and brand that needs to have an immediate impact.

Regarding the name, the owner is a West Point alumnus and guess what their team name is...the Black Knights. He's essentially emulating them at a professional level. The colors, name and logo are similar (in the helmet).

Old article from Larry Brooks on the NHL, parity and the expansion draft:


 

Here was commissioner Gary Bettman, taking a victory lap even while seated and stationary during his pre-finals press conference on Monday in Pittsburgh, crowing about the parity within the NHL by proudly reciting data about the absence of a repeat Stanley Cup champion since 1998 and repeat finalists since 2009.

Yep, thanks goodness Gary’s League doesn’t have a Warriors-Cavaliers type of thing going on in the final. Wouldn’t want a super team such as Golden State seeking a repeat championship in a rematch against LeBron James, competing in his sixth straight final round.

Why would the NHL ever want to feature a marquee matchup like that?

Don’t get me wrong. The Penguins and Sharks are very good teams and most certainly have earned the right to compete for the Stanley Cup. Sidney Crosby, the most householdish name in the league, is back in the finals after a seven-year absence. San Jose is a great town. The hockey is good. But there is little of historical marquee value here.

That is the way it is meant to be in this league, which is dedicated to the proposition that all teams must be equal. This is the core belief on Sixth Avenue, where they forever seek ways to genetically engineer parity by cutting off successful teams at the knees. That is the philosophy forever rubber-stamped by a Board of Governors consisting of members who repeatedly vote against the interests of their own teams, and by extension, their own fans who foot the bill.

 
Here, now, the news:
First, we should tell you that for all of the successes Bettman cited in his press conference, the record attendance and whatnot, revenue is not growing in a commensurate manner. The Canadian currency issue is obviously a factor, but so is the absence of major-market teams in the latter rounds of the playoffs.

Hence, the league once again is dependent upon its players agreeing to take more out of their pockets through the application of greater escrow withholdings in order to avoid a decrease in the salary cap.

According to a source with ties to the Players’ Association, the cap — set at $71.4 million this year — would be reduced to approximately $69.3M for 2016-17 unless the PA triggers the 5 percent escalator. If the union does exercise the bump, then the cap should increase to approximately $72.8M. The union, which debated the issue at meetings at the end of the week, has voted for the increase all but once.

Exercising the trigger will increase escrow to a degree — players probably will wind up forfeiting around 16 percent of their pay when this past season’s numbers finally are reconciled — but a higher cap obviously allows for more available money to sign players on expiring contracts and offers more choices for unrestricted free agents and more protection against cap-necessitated buyouts and waivers.

So the PA is expected to vote to approve the increase and thus prevent the first organic decrease of the cap (not counting the reset following the 2012-13 Owners’ Lockout III) since the system was adopted for 2005-06.

Second, Slap Shots has learned that rules for the 2017 expansion draft that will precede Las Vegas’ anticipated 2017-18 admission to the league as its 31st franchise (“Done deal,” we’re told), will compel teams to protect players with no-move clauses even if they or the contracts themselves expire at the end of 2016-17.

This means if the expansion draft is held, say, on June 21, 2017, teams will be obligated to protect players who, a) would become unrestricted free agents 10 days later; or, b) would be able to be waived or traded 10 days later.

This is, of course, completely illogical … except when applied against Sixth Avenue’s overriding philosophy of punishing teams for following certain regulations within the CBA that for some reasons offend the league. Then it makes perfect sense.

During the last lockout, the league targeted teams that had signed players to previously approved and registered front-loaded contracts. They targeted teams that had waived players on expensive contracts to the AHL. Now, the league is seeking to hobble teams with multiple no-move contracts. Why? Because the league doesn’t “like” no-move contracts.

Teams that grant no-move clauses do so because they believe they must in order to sign or keep players. More often than not, those contracts generally come back to bite teams. Case in point: Well, Rangers fans know. But now the league — with the NHLPA’s assent — is seeking to punish teams that use no-moves as a tool to try and win.

It always can be distilled to this: The NHL is a lowest common-denominator league that uses its power to sanction successful teams that try to win.
What league punishes teams for trying to give their fans the best product possible? The answer is, the NHL.

You bet the Rangers are going to have to find a way to move Dan Girardi (whose no-move becomes a modified no-trade on July 1, 2017) if not Marc Staal, as well, before the expansion draft, or else they stand to lose a player of far greater future value to the team in Las Vegas, which the NHL wants to be an immediate playoff contender.

But it is not only the Rangers at risk here. The Blackhawks — only the NHL’s model franchise — have seven players with no-moves. The Blue Jackets — perennial ne’er do-wells — have five players with no-moves. The Ducks have four. The Lightning will have to find a way to deal Ben Bishop, the goaltender eligible to become a free agent on July 1, 2017, or they will have to expose Andrei Vasilevskiy.

They’re all on the hook … on the hook for using the tools within the CBA — sometimes wisely, sometimes not so wisely — in order to try to win.

Can’t have that.

Don’t want the Warriors and LeBron.

There's going to be a lot of movement at the trade deadline. Some teams may be ruined because of the upcoming draft.

Real good info posted...never knew of the Black Knight connection.

 

[llerraj]

Overall, it is a boring and safe brand; the opposite of Vegas. The Kings are going to have fun with this as Knights are subservient to them.

 

[sosly]

It's time. Flames call up Mark "Sidney Crosby" Jankowski. Probably won't play though

 

[Bad Religion]

How strong are his fingers?

 

[llerraj]

The expansion draft re: the Rangers perspective

[h1]The Rangers must protect Rick Nash in expansion draft[/h1]
There was some big news from Sportsnet today regarding the New York Rangers and the upcoming expansion draft for the Las Vegas Golden Knights.

For example, veteran winger Rick Nash is required to be protected by the New York Rangers. He’s been a popular player to expose in mock drafts conducted by users of capfriendly.com or the (now defunct) generalfanger.com site because of the Rangers cap situation and the fact Nash is due to carry a $7.8-million cap hit next season.

However, the language in the contract he signed with Columbus on July 3, 2009 stipulated that he maintained the no-move aspect of the deal when it came to being waived or loaned (and ultimately exposed for expansion, under the NHL’s new interpretation) even though his full no-trade clause was downgraded to a 12-team list in June 2015.

The addition of Nash means that the Rangers are on the hook to automatically protect four players:

• Dan Girardi
• Henrik Lundqvist
• Rick Nash
• Marc Staal

As the Sportsnet article points out, Nash was one of the forwards that was a “given” for the Rangers to expose to the draft because of his big cap hit.

This means that the Rangers will likely have to expose a forward that they really, really don’t want to expose at the end of the season.

#NYR must expose 2 of the following forwards:

Stepan
Kreider
Zuccarello
Miller
Hayes
Grabner
— Ryan Ohanesian (@ryanohan) November 23, 2016

 

 

Michael Grabner is a given, as former Blueshirt Banter contributor Ryan Ohanesian pointed out on twitter, but after that... it gets uncomfortable.

Build a competitive roster and then get penalized for it. The NHL in a nutshell. This is going to be a very unusual trade deadline as teams look to protect their rosters going forward.

 

[DeadsetAce]

Build a competitive roster and then get penalized for it. The NHL in a nutshell. This is going to be a very unusual trade deadline as teams look to protect their rosters going forward.

so maybe Don Sweeney is doing it the right way in Boston. build a **** roster for the expansion draft, then fix it???



Rangers will be fine post draft

 

[llerraj]

I'm sure they'll be fine, but look at other teams around the League. Tampa is currently going through this with Ben Bishop. He's likely to be moved so that the Lightning don't lose him.

The Washington Post has a good piece on five teams that should worry about the Vegas draft:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ess-about-the-nhls-las-vegas-expansion-draft/

 

[DeadsetAce]

^ good article. i actually completely blanked on the fact that guys with NMC's need to be protected. Adam McQuaid better not have one of those

 

[johnnyredstorm]

These rules are so dumb

 

[frink85]

Can players waive their NMCs and be exposed? What if I'm a strapping young man trying to set up home base in Vegas...?

 

[needsomejays]

Can players waive their NMCs and be exposed? What if I'm a strapping young man trying to set up home base in Vegas...?

I'm pretty positive they can
Here's all the rules if anyone wants to look at them

https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-expansion-draft-rules/c-281010592

 

[DeadsetAce]

Can players waive their NMCs and be exposed? What if I'm a strapping young man trying to set up home base in Vegas...?

jarret stoll def wants to go to vegas. where the hell is he nowadays, anyway?

 

[EddieDoyers]

Kings with another OT win

 

[EddieDoyers]

Ducks win

 

[heatseeker23]

Ducks win

 

I went last night, bummer to see SJ lose. 

 

[DeadsetAce]

SportsCentre ‏@SportsCentre 50s50 seconds ago
BREAKING: @FlaPanthers relieve Gerard Gallant of head coaching duties after 3-2 loss to Hurricanes (via @GeorgeRichards).

damn...Florida was trending up too heading into the year

 

[heatseeker23]

Damn heads rolling in fl

 

[llerraj]

[h2]  [/h2]

[h2]US Army might have an issue with the NHL's newest franchise[/h2]



A member of the Army's Golden Knights demonstration team descends with the American flag, during a jump at Fort Bragg, N.C. on Nov. 22, 2016.

Aden Cazarez/U.S. Army

By Marissa Payne | The Washington Post | Published: November 29, 2016

The NHL's newest expansion franchise the Vegas Golden Knights are already facing some stiff competition, but not on the ice. Their first challenge, it appears, is descending on them from above in the form of the U.S. Army Parachute Team, which has been called the Golden Knights since the 1960s. The Army isn't quite sure it approves of the hockey team borrowing its name.

"We're reviewing the situation and figuring out what the way ahead would be," Army spokeswoman Alison Bettencourt told the Fayetteville Observer this week.

Bettencourt said the Army only found out about the name of the new Las Vegas-based franchise on Wednesday, a day after Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley announced it in a high-profile ceremony at the T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip.

Foley, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, was well aware of the name of the parachute team. In fact, he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal last week that he wanted to incorporate that Golden Knights parachute team into the ceremony, but "it got kind of complicated."

Foley already ran into trouble with the Army when he wanted to name the team the Black Knights, the nickname of West Point's sports teams, but the academy has trademarked the name.

That isn't the case with the Golden Knights. Although the Army has used that nickname for decades to refer to the top-level parachute team, Foley may have the legal rights to it. In August, he applied to trademark that name (along with the Silver Knights and Desert Knights, just in case). The case is being reviewed.

"We understand that one of the Las Vegas team owners (Bill Foley) has Army connections, and will likely understand our interest in this announcement is meant to protect the proud history of the Army's Golden Knights and their vital role in telling the Army story and connecting America with their Army," Bettencourt said.

In addition to the parachute team, the Golden Knights nickname is also used by Clarksburg College. According to Yahoo Sports, Foley got permission from the school to use the moniker for the NHL franchise before he announced it last week.

The Vegas Golden Knights are scheduled to play their first NHL season next year.

The owner didn't have the decency to reach out to them because he would have been told no. They didn't copyright name, but this is far from over. They can't use Knights either because the OHL's London Knights denied them permission to use the name. NHL would have a headache marketing Vegas in Canada with that moniker.

 

[DeadsetAce]

Desert Knights!

 

[ijumpmani]

Just switch their name to the Desert Beavers and call it a day

 

[EddieDoyers]

Ducks! F word the Habs!

 

[DeadsetAce]

Ducks! F word the Habs!

repped

 

[DeadsetAce]

Boston's lack of offensive talent is laughable. job security of HCs and GMs in sports is a joke