Batch 3 winners

[Hanna Sniper]

Yes, both

Both are cap, we have set up rules to prevent cap circumvention, clearly, this is a loophole and although strong teams may not value the players left. other teams could benefit from the players available

Just think it's an interesting note that doesn't seem to be getting any respect. Not sure if it's the quality of players or such for the reasoning

By having an AHL cap space being over, teams should be forced to either buy out or move players to the CPHL squad to participate in free agency. It affects the cap allocation of all the teams.

Just seems like an obvious oversight, that teams must have the cap space but ignore that a team is over the cap

And if it's not clear from the first post, I am only talking in the future, not currently. fix a loophole type thing. I just got the feeling it wasn't respected enough to be fixed and thought it might be best to make a point about it so if it is overlooked then it's on purpose and not an oversight

[SportsJunky]

I've wondered about this myself over the years. A team can be well over the AHL body limit and cap limit yet still sign UFA players to the NHL club. It feels a little loopholey.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Gotcha. Thanks. Yes I think it's a decision we can make as we close out free agency this year. The ratings cut off largely was designed to prevent stashing but this year we saw quality players waive players 24 years and older to create space on the NHL cap. Which is interesting because it means some quality players (e.g. David Savard) were available but went unclaimed.

I'm happy to put it up for a vote once we get through free agency

[TheScorpion]

I think it's definitely a rule that can potentially be discussed but I haven't violated any to this point, have I?

[Jiri Hrdina]

nope

[Hanna Sniper]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

I think it's definitely a rule that can potentially be discussed but I haven't violated any to this point, have I?

No, great GMing if you ask me

[TheScorpion]

I don't think we should prohibit teams from doing what I did in terms of waiving guys like Savard and Rittich to the farm to clear space. The reason we have the U-23 rule is to prevent a team from, say, stashing a guy like Cirelli without waivers and freeing up $6 million. But I made Savard and Rittich available to every team with the calculated guess that nobody would claim them, because it's the middle of UFA season and everyone wants space. That was a strategic move on my part and it worked. It also could've backfired.

I don't think the roster limit should apply during UFA bids but I do think there could be some merit to enforcing the AHL salary cap during the batches.

[Hanna Sniper]

I's not the Savard bit, Grant added that and it wasn't part of the reasoning. You are correct every team had a chance at him. Savard isn't a problem or part of any loophole. There have been many players like Savard every year

It's the -0.27 cap space on the farm. It would require you to call up 2.70M worth of salary to be able to bid. That would either eat up 2.7M of bidding money or force moves.

It just comes down that we've made rules to prevent the hiding of cap and this very small loophole was left open and should possibly be corrected

[Hanna Sniper]

Plus it's very easy enough to get the AHL team cap complaint. Moving one .27M player temporarily to another team during free agency would easily do it

Just for those reading, I love the grey area of rules. I honestly think that if you're not pushing those lines then you're not trying to improve your team. The first time I come to a rule I look for ways it can be exploited then try to figure out ways to fix that

[simmer2]

I tend to agree with Doug, that loophole should be closed.

[TheScorpion]

Yup, I agree with this. The AHL salary cap should be observed during bids, until the open batch.

Because we're already midway through this year's batches, I think this should take effect starting with the 2022 offseason.

[Jiri Hrdina]

That's my lean too. I think we have to be careful about having too many restrictions during the off-season, as that is when a lot of the work happens. And to your point - you don't have ability to move guys up and down from the A without risking losing them entirely. So in some ways, the market should self-adjust.

But again let's put it to a vote after this UFA season is through.