Quote:
Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop
Pretty certain the Flames will sign Parker Bell, but I read somewhere that there's a loophole that, because of his late birthday, if they wait they can get some sort of contractual advantage. Or maybe I'm confused.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Freeway
No contractual loophole for Bell; if he signs, it'll just be a "regular" contract.
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You're probably mixing it up with the contract slide rules for late birthday players that the Flames took advantage of with Emile Poirier a decade ago.
When a player signs his first contract, his "signing age" is not his age on the day he signed the contract but his age on September 15 in that calendar year. This creates a small loophole for players whose birthdays are in the final three and a half months of the year.
If a player's signing age is 18, his contract can slide for 2 years if he doesn't play at least 10 games in the NHL. If a player's signing age is 19, his contract can slide for 1 year if he doesn't play at least 10 games in the NHL.
Also, if a CHL player's 20th birthday is before the end of a calendar year, he can play in the AHL in the season that starts in that calendar year and doesn't need to be sent back to his CHL team even if he's still only 19 at the start of the season.
This creates a situation where a player can be playing in the AHL while signed to an NHL contract, but it slides that season and the team gets 4 years of pro hockey out of a player's 3 year ELC.
However, for a player with a late birthday, that loophole only works if the player signed his contract as an 18 year-old. If a player's signing age is 19 but his birthday is after September 15, his contract won't slide. This is why Poirier was signed on December 31. He was able to play in the AHL as an 19/20 year-old while his contract slid. If he had signed a day later, it would have been a different calendar year and his contract wouldn't have slid when he played in the AHL.
For Bell, his situation is different because he's already in his 19/20 calendar year. If he signs, his contract will count regardless of where he plays this season and he is still eligible to play in the WHL. The Flames probably don't want to sign him unless they are sure he will make the Wranglers this fall rather than burning the first year of his ELC while he's playing in the WHL.
This will be interesting to watch for this year's draft class because Honzek and Lipinski both have late 2004 birthdays. If they sign before the end of the year, their contracts will be eligible to slide for 2 years, so they could play in the AHL in 2024-25 without burning the first year of their ELCs.