Big Read: Behind Closed Doors Trade Deadline Day

[Anduril]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/b...-deadline-day/

Pretty interesting read that takes stuff from two NHL GMs, a scout, an agent and a lawyer for the NHL. Definitely a lot of logistics required and not coming down to two men trying to outwit the other.

Originally Posted by The Buyer

Everything is done by phone. It’s a cold call. It’s the toughest part of the whole deal. It’s always initiated by the buyer, and when you’re making the call, just by making it, you’re telling another GM, ‘I don’t think your team is going to make the playoffs.’

Originally Posted by The Seller

I try to keep things civil. That’s how I like it. I haven’t had anyone come in with an ultimatum—you have five minutes, take it or leave it. If I ever heard something like that I’d say, ‘I’ll leave it.’ And then I’d hang up. You have to do things in good faith. If someone went around trying to fleece [other GMs] we’d stop taking his calls.

Originally Posted by The Scout

There are no mystery players at noon on deadline day. If you’re adding a depth player, you have your pro scout’s book on players who fit the profile and you also have a sense of the organizations that you’re talking trade with.

Originally Posted by The Agent

[If you have a client who’s requested a trade,] a GM isn’t going to trade him because he thinks you and your client are good people. It doesn’t work that way. I laugh when I hear “trade demand” in the media.

Originally Posted by The Lawyer

After 1:00 or 1:30 p.m. on deadline day [up until] the deadline itself, we’re just taking in information then passing it to Bill Daly’s assistant who will coordinate with the Montreal office to do all the necessary checks. So there are trade calls that we don’t actually complete until after 3 p.m.

[ComixZone]

Just started reading, but something that struck me right off the start - sportsnet printed "#$%^", which just seemed odd.

And if a guy says he has a better offer out there, you’ll know if he’s full of #$%^ when you get to the deadline and he still has the player you targeted.

Another thing that jumped out at me is something everyone already knows:

Our GM likes to have everything in front of him because as the clock winds down he wants to be able to focus on negotiating with the other GMs and not have to be juggling a lot of other stuff—what the cap issues might be, what the contracts are going forward.

Most contending teams spend to the cap, and so far I'd say that the rich have managed to stay rich (asset-wise). I wonder if there'd be another way to spark more trade activity/a more exciting free agent period by altering how buy outs work? Instead of making a team carry a cap-hit for x-amount of time, have the penalty be something along the lines of RFA Offer Sheets. Where if you buy out a player that has "x" amount of term/money left on his contract, rather than carrying an "x" cap-hit, you have to pay for it by giving up draft picks? Maybe even allow the team to choose between paying a cap penalty or a draft pick penalty. This could help spark more activity in the summer and offer GMs some more flexibility when it comes to trades.

Fun read. I'm excited for Wednesday.

[Huntingwhale]

Great article. This shows why I am so glad we have a respected POHO like Burke at the helm. His contacts around the league and the respect he garners are such a positive for the Flames. I laugh when some people say they want him no where near the Flames and he's a blowhard this, windbag that. He's such a great asset to have in the organization.

This article also makes me appreciate just how lucky we are to have BT making trades. The returns he's gotten on some of the players he's sold, and the bargain prices on the players he's brought in.

Very lucky to have both in the organization.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

Great article. This shows why I am so glad we have a respected POHO like Burke at the helm. His contacts around the league and the respect he garners are such a positive for the Flames. I laugh when some people say they want him no where near the Flames and he's a blowhard this, windbag that. He's such a great asset to have in the organization.

This article also makes me appreciate just how lucky we are to have BT making trades. The returns he's gotten on some of the players he's sold, and the bargain prices on the players he's brought in.

Very lucky to have both in the organization.

Even if you like him you have to admit he's a blowhard.

I like the part of the article that says GM's aren't out there trying to fleece other GM's. I like that attitude. The best business deals are the ones that work for everybody. I guess it would be great to take advantage of another GM for benefit of the Flames, like Fletcher did to Riser, but it's a small community of executives that probably aren't out to screw the other guy for the most part.

[csnarpy]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Even if you like him you have to admit he's a blowhard.

I like the part of the article that says GM's aren't out there trying to fleece other GM's. I like that attitude. The best business deals are the ones that work for everybody. I guess it would be great to take advantage of another GM for benefit of the Flames, like Fletcher did to Riser, but it's a small community of executives that probably aren't out to screw the other guy for the most part.

What you see in the media and what is off camera is completely different. If you ever get a chance to talk to him then you'd realize that this statement is pretty much incorrect. He is very respected around the league and one of the most knowledgable hockey personas I've ever encountered. Also, he love telling stories and there are a ton of them!

[belsarius]

A lot of the deals that get made on the deadline have been in discussion or even agreed to for weeks. The agreement in principle can be in place and might include that [the deal] gets done on the deadline for cap or budget considerations—and leaves the buyer an out if, say, his team has a couple of injuries and its chances at a Cup take a dive. If you back away in a situation like that, the seller GM understands.

Based on the reports of interest in Wideman, the PTO by Bartowski and trade for Stone, it all makes me wonder if a deal is already in place for Wideman pending the trade deadline to reduce his remaining cap hit as much as possible.

The Flames had no problem playing him 20 minutes a night up until a week ago and then suddenly BT does a bunch of moves that put him in the pressbox. I think he is already gone and he is sitting to prevent injury and ruining the trade.

[sureLoss]

Originally Posted by belsarius

Based on the reports of interest in Wideman, the PTO by Bartowski and trade for Stone, it all makes me wonder if a deal is already in place for Wideman pending the trade deadline to reduce his remaining cap hit as much as possible.

The Flames had no problem playing him 20 minutes a night up until a week ago and then suddenly BT does a bunch of moves that put him in the pressbox. I think he is already gone and he is sitting to prevent injury and ruining the trade.

That is what Ryan Leslie is implying when he says that Wideman is getting scratched is not for performance reasons.

[442scotty]

I would be pleasantly shocked if anyone takes Wideman..

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

That is what Ryan Leslie is implying when he says that Wideman is getting scratched is not for performance reasons.

This actually makes sense given that Ryan Leslie is employed by the Flames. It's not his job to "leak" insider information (which I'm sure he is privy to), and I'm sure he wouldn't last long if he started to do so.

I wouldn't be surprised if that was just PR spin from the team...

[mikephoen]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

That is what Ryan Leslie is implying when he says that Wideman is getting scratched is not for performance reasons.

Maybe what he is implying is that following the Flames sit down with the league about penalties that the refs let the Flames know that if they do everything they can to torpedo Wideman's career from here on out, they will start calling the penalties more fairly.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Originally Posted by mikephoen

Maybe what he is implying is that following the Flames sit down with the league about penalties that the refs let the Flames know that if they do everything they can to torpedo Wideman's career from here on out, they will start calling the penalties more fairly.

I couldn't imagine that the Flames would agree to do such a thing.

[mikephoen]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

I couldn't imagine that the Flames would agree to do such a thing.

I was mostly joking. Mostly.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Originally Posted by mikephoen

I was mostly joking. Mostly.

Sorry.. haven't had my coffee yet. Just kick me in the face and we will call it even

[CaptainCrunch]

that's a good read, its certainly not much different then what I envisioned. I think most of us want to believe that these guys are all hard negotiators pushing each other for deals by lying and misleading and exaggerating and calling each other pancake eating mother$$$$$$$. But I tend to believe that relationships between GM's are crucial to a GM keeping his job. We basically saw Kevin Lowe whining and crying to the media when he didn't get deals done after talking about big game hunting, and you have to wonder how many people really wanted to help him out.

I was surprised about one thing. I would have thought that the GM's would have had a CalgaryPuck style forum with a huge buy and sell section as well as an off topic forum where they looked at hilarious videos of cats.

[McG]

I was thinking about Wideman when I read this part:

If a player has dropped out of the top-six or the top-four D, if his minutes have been dropping, a younger player has passed him or he’s a healthy scratch, he’s going to want a trade. He’s not going to be happy. I have to calm him down, but he’s only going to calm down if I’m advocating for him. I have to call the GM. ... ... No matter what, a GM is going to do what’s in his best interests and, if you’re an agent advocating for a player, you’re hoping the GM’s best interests overlap with your client’s.

Good read!