Quote:
Originally Posted by sureLoss
Just spitballing but wonder if there is a GM with the balls to try and go around the new double retention rules.
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I think teams will definitely try to do it, but I don't see it being very likely.
It would no longer be a simple three way deal with the middleman taking on a percentage of the cap hit (and associated real money cost) for a mid-round pick while the bulk of the deal happens between the two main teams.
It would need to be two separate deals where the first team trading the player would want full value for the player at the time of the trade, and the second team would not only need to pay full value for the player, but need to get more than that in the second trade for it to make sense.
For example, look at the trade that sent Gourde from Seattle to Tampa last season.
Spoiler!
This is how it looked after all the deals were done...
TAMPA (Pays 25% of Gourde)- IN: Gourde, Bjorkstrand, Aucoin (unsigned), 2026-R5 from SEA
- OUT: Eyssimont, 2025-R2, 2025-R4, 2026-R1, 2027-R1
SEATTLE (Pays 50% of Gourde)- IN: Eyssimont, 2025-R2 from TBL, 2026-R1 from TBL, 2027-R1 from TBL
- OUT: Gourde, Bjorkstrand, 2026-R5
DETROIT (Pays 25% of Gourde)- IN: 2025-R4 from TBL
- OUT: Aucoin (unsigned)
For simplicity's sake, let's take the other players out and try to balance the deals...
- Bjorkstrand and 2026-R5 from Seattle for Eyssimont and 2025-R2 from Tampa
- 2025-R4 from Tampa for the rights to Aucoin and Detroit paying 25% of Gourde's contract
- 2026-R1 and 2027-R1 from Tampa for Gourde and Seattle paying 50% of Gourde's contract
To work under the new rules, let's switch the third deal so it's a December trade of Detroit's 2026 and 2027 first round picks for Gourde and Seattle paying 50% of Gourde's contract.
Then, at the deadline, Detroit flips him (with another 25% retained) and Aucoin's rights to Tampa for Tampa's 2026 and 2027 first rounders and their 2025 fourth rounder.
On the surface, that looks like the same end result, except it's much worse for Detroit because they gave up their own 2026 and 2027 first rounders for Tampa's, and theirs are likely to be much better than Tampa's. Detroit also had to pay 50% of Gourde's contract for 75 days and Seattle did not.
The only way it would make sense for Detroit is if they were paying Seattle less in December than they'll get from Tampa in March, but then the question is why would Seattle make that deal?
I think the complexity of finding a deal that works for both teams makes it too hard for it to happen very often.
The other issue is that players who are involved in double-retention deals are usually older players making big salaries, which also means they likely have some kind of NTC and also a wife and kids to think about.
From the player's perspective, there's really no advantage to accepting a deal that's going to move you to a bad team (even though you're leaving a bad team too) for 2 and a half months before you get moved to a good team. Because it's a short term, it doesn't make sense to move your family, meaning you'll be alone living a "long term" hotel for those 75 days until you get flipped.