Looking at the list of potential playoff teams, I don't think there's going to be much available come deadline time. Pretty much all of the selling has already happened, and teams that have already loaded up aren't going to want to trade their UFAs. There's very little left among non playoff teams, besides some decent goalies. I think if some teams are waiting to snag a guy near the deadline a lot of clubs are going to be disappointed.
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To NYIslander: Daniel Tjarnqvist, Duvie Westcott, Ilja Bryzgalov, Pat Rissmiller, Tom Poti, Bjorn Melin, Karri Ramo, Tom Gilbert
To Boston: Chris Pronger, Doug Murray, Jocelyn Thibault, Ken Klee, Wade Brookbank, Denis Istomin, Viktor Dovgan
The other thing to consider is that a lot of UFAs that may be available have a hefty price tag. Demitra, Weight, Rucinsky, Peca, guys like that are going to have a hard time fitting into a lot of teams' salary structure.
There's still a lot of games to be played though, potentially some of the top teams in both conferences could miss the playoffs, things are that tight.
I kind of dislike how the deadline is so late in the season though, we'll have to see how that plays out. Teams will pretty much know when the trade deadline happens whether they'll make the playoffs or not, so we could see a lot more movement than I anticipate.
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To NYIslander: Daniel Tjarnqvist, Duvie Westcott, Ilja Bryzgalov, Pat Rissmiller, Tom Poti, Bjorn Melin, Karri Ramo, Tom Gilbert
To Boston: Chris Pronger, Doug Murray, Jocelyn Thibault, Ken Klee, Wade Brookbank, Denis Istomin, Viktor Dovgan
The other thing to consider is that a lot of UFAs that may be available have a hefty price tag. Demitra, Weight, Rucinsky, Peca, guys like that are going to have a hard time fitting into a lot of teams' salary structure.
There's still a lot of games to be played though, potentially some of the top teams in both conferences could miss the playoffs, things are that tight.
I kind of dislike how the deadline is so late in the season though, we'll have to see how that plays out. Teams will pretty much know when the trade deadline happens whether they'll make the playoffs or not, so we could see a lot more movement than I anticipate.
Matt brings up a good point. The NHL backed up their trade deadline. The BRHL2 should consider doing the same.
It seems to be back near the 80% mark now, weird, I could have sworn that last time I checked it was almost near the end of the schedule, must have been fixed.
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To NYIslander: Daniel Tjarnqvist, Duvie Westcott, Ilja Bryzgalov, Pat Rissmiller, Tom Poti, Bjorn Melin, Karri Ramo, Tom Gilbert
To Boston: Chris Pronger, Doug Murray, Jocelyn Thibault, Ken Klee, Wade Brookbank, Denis Istomin, Viktor Dovgan
“Generally new GM’s will under-value potential UFA’s, we only have turnover maybe every 6 months, but when that happens the first guys they deal are generally UFA’s simply because they don’t put the appropriate value on them.” – Very interesting, I’m sure our dynamics won’t be the same, but likely won’t vary too much. Hopefully this is helpful to us GM’s who aren’t in the BRHL, and hopefully it exposes a few tricks of the trade (especially of Bryce’s, who wants him to win anyways).
People would do well to remember that it's still just an opinion. I would just as easily advise that GMs who have UFAs and want to move those UFAs... typically way over-value those UFAs. The "I won't give them away for nothing" mentality is fine, but just remember you run the risk of paying out millions in salary just so you can say "see, I made my point, I wasn't going to give him away for crap. I'd rather keep him".
In reality, real NHL teams have as much incentive to trade away an upcoming UFA player as contenders have to acquire one. If you're not a playoff team, you sure don't want to be holding on to that high priced UFA, because at the end of the day, you're not only getting nothing for him, but you're also still paying that $2.5 or more million left on his contract. A sim league is obviously somewhat different in that sure, there's "money", but it's not real money, so it's not as an important thing to see. The picking up of Peter Nedved in the real NHL was more or less a no-brainer for the Oilers. Not only do they get the guy for free, but Philly picks up half the tab. But it was still a "win" for Philly given that paying half his salary is better than paying all his salary.
In reality, trades for UFAs are all over the map. For every rediculously insane trade people quote like the Adam Oates to washington trade, or even the Weight to Carolina trade last year, there's a situation where a UFA (perhaps not an elite one though) was essentially given away so the owning team didn't have to pay their salary.
I'd also caution about looking too much into just picking someone up just to use the 10% loyalty factor for next season. Are you really going to be saving money? You've got to pay their salary for the rest of the season this year, plus whatever else you traded away to get them. How often is that really going to add up to less than the 10% loyalty bonus?
-- Edited by Florida Panthers at 20:44, 2007-01-12
A last point to consider is that our salary cap with regards to UFA is unfortunately not the same as the NHL salary cap. In the NHL UFAs to be have their cap hit reduced as the season goes along. So near the deadline, a team could add a 5 million dollar player with a 1 million dollar cap hit.
That, IMO, will be a driving factor in lowering UFA returns. Most teams simply cannot afford to fit a Weight or a Rucinsky without giving a significant salary back. And in most cases it won't be a UFA salary.
It's a shame that we don't use that rule in the BRHL2, I can certainly see the reasoning for not using it, but with some imagination as to how exactly it's done I think it could work and more importantly make the deadline much more active. I would certainly be after a number of players but their salaries simply won't fit under the cap.
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To NYIslander: Daniel Tjarnqvist, Duvie Westcott, Ilja Bryzgalov, Pat Rissmiller, Tom Poti, Bjorn Melin, Karri Ramo, Tom Gilbert
To Boston: Chris Pronger, Doug Murray, Jocelyn Thibault, Ken Klee, Wade Brookbank, Denis Istomin, Viktor Dovgan
I'd also caution about looking too much into just picking someone up just to use the 10% loyalty factor for next season. Are you really going to be saving money? You've got to pay their salary for the rest of the season this year, plus whatever else you traded away to get them. How often is that really going to add up to less than the 10% loyalty bonus?
Not too often that I quote my own post...
Picking up someone in a trade just to get the 10% loyalty for next season is something that cannot happen. Or rather, that player won't show any 10% loyalty anyway. It's pretty clearly written in the rules that like with tags, a player has to be with the team for a year to get the loyalty. Which just makes sense. Why would a player show loyalty to a team who just picked him up at the trade deadline?
Why would a player show loyalty to a team who just picked him up at the trade deadline?
Doug Weight notwithstanding, lots of players that are dealt at the deadline stay on with the club that acquired them. Especially if they advance in the playoffs.
I think it has to do with the thought of being appreciated by another organization, which believe it or not, usually tends to be a large consideration at the end of the season.
Granted, players staying on with the clubs that acquired them happens in basketball much more than in hockey, but it still does occur in hockey (Roloson being a prime example)
"tags" are available to players who have been on your roster the entire season for a reason (so that some players will actually hit the free agent market every season). But as for your assertion that the 10% loyalty bonus should only be available to players who have been on your team the entire season is baseless, because there is definitely a feeling of respect from players towards organizations that they go to and succeed with.
Thanks for hearing me out,
Rex Leak
Philly
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Get ahold of me soon, or my players will already be dealt!
"tags" are available to players who have been on your roster the entire season for a reason (so that some players will actually hit the free agent market every season). But as for your assertion that the 10% loyalty bonus should only be available to players who have been on your team the entire season is baseless, because there is definitely a feeling of respect from players towards organizations that they go to and succeed with.
Philly
For every player that you want to try to show me that sticks with a team that he was traded to at the end for a UFA, I'm pretty sure I can show you plenty that don't. UFA players get traded and go somewhere so the rights holding team doesn't lose them for nothing. And a signing team takes them because they think they can help. Very rarely is a player going to, or have they, taken that into consideration, or at the very least, show any "loyalty". They might stick with the team because they ended up having good chemistry with their new linemates, but that isn't loyalty. Loyalty is built up over time.
Hell, not only did Doug Weight not show any "loyalty" to the Hurricane after winning the cup with them, he showed his real loyalty by going back to the Blues. And pretty much everyone knew it was going to happen
As for my assertion that the 10% loyalty assertion being baseless... well actually it's based right from the rules...
"iii. A team that has had a player for more than one full season will get a home discount in that a player will give the home team a 10% discount in negotiations. So a 1 year 1 million offer from another team is equal to a 1 year 900k offer from their prior team."
It's pretty black and white the way the rule exists. My assertion is simply that the rule makes sense, which it absolutely does.
Matt brings up a good point. The NHL backed up their trade deadline. The BRHL2 should consider doing the same.
didn't hear the NHL dropped their deadline. last I remember seeing (before it was changed), the deadline was around 65% into the season, which is where I set our deadline.
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"As long as those gnome elite molecules emerge, we certainly can reduce casualties. Their warplanes troops would be nice."
my mistake, got my numbers mixed up. the deadline in the BRHL2 is at 79%. in the NHL its at about 73-75. We'll keep it where it is for now. theres not too big of a difference here. I believe it's on pace for close to mid feb.
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"As long as those gnome elite molecules emerge, we certainly can reduce casualties. Their warplanes troops would be nice."
