If contract value, length, and trade clauses are negotiated, why can’t the “waive-clause compensation” also be negotiated?

And if a player agrees to waive his clause, that “waive-clause compensation” gets added to the original team’s salary cap. Either for the current year or roll it over to the next year like the 35y/o+ bonuses.

Keeps all the money in the bounds of the salary cap and eliminates “under the table” money.

I can’t stand that the conversation always turns to “the other team played poorly” when the sens play well. Let’s not forget that SC champions Carolina said sens were the toughest team they played. Ottawa is a mini Carolina and just makes teams look bad.

And all of this without one of the top pairings in the NHL last year.

10:57 Greg, I would say you went on to describe humility to me.  Pretty lackluster take if you ask me.

Great show as usual guys.

1. Hrm, I can think of one NHL team that was a class organization then went into the crapper and were in the woods for a long time and that'd be the Islanders. Things are MUCH better over the last few years now but there was a LOOONG period where they were a pretty badly run organization and there was question about ownership and the viability of the team in the market. In other sports i'd go with the Washington team in the NFL when Daniel Snyder bought it though that organization was starting to show sign of slippage even before he bought the team. I'd say the Lions would fall into the category but their success in the last couple years compared to the DECADES of mediocrity and horrible organizational framework isn't going to outweigh those bad years. NBA wise, probably the Celtics after all the old guard left though they did have some small peaks and valleys before they fully regained themselves as an organization. In MLB.....ahhhh, this one is more difficult as I can't think of anyone off the top of my head.

2. The McKenna optional/morning skate thing can be an argument in good faith if you factor in the fact that every time he bumps up a level it takes him time to acclimate with the biggest and most recent example of when he went to college. It took him more than half the year for him to fully gain his footing. To think you're so great that you don't participate in the morning skates shows a lot of arrogance on his part. If i'm him and I know I struggle to acclimate to a higher level i'd be taking advantage of every possibility to get out there and soak it all in. Hell, that first optional skate i'd go and just BE THERE. You don't have to give it 100% but being with your teammates and learning what it takes to be a pro is preferable to saying "nah, i'm good". Maybe if he scores tonight something in the back of his mind will click and have him say "okay, I got to pay attention to the little details".

3. The no movement clause discussion was interesting. I think I like the idea of if you're going to have that clause then make it something standardized rather than personalizing it to the player so that it gives GMs some flexibility when the player DOES ask to waive the clause. That way you know exactly what you do in re: to trades rather than being squeezed in by ridiculous demands.

IMO what Larkin and Helle are doing is the opposite of “trade protection”. A no trade is supposed to protect a player WANTING TO STAY from being traded. It’s not meant to be used as a cudgel for players demanding to be traded. Book it, in the next CBA this will be addressed, and I’ll bet the way it’ll work is that no trade lists will be void if a player asks out. And the league doesn’t have to give up anything. They can simply lock the doors and hold out as long as they want and wait for the union to crumble (which it would in the end).

Greg, posting those commercials is a service to humanity. 🫡

On no-trade, just put a max number of the total number of teams players can't be traded to on a 'per team' basis.

If a guy has a complete NTC clause, that's 31 teams. If a guy has a 10 team list, that's 21 teams he can't be traded to. Find a number (say 150?) that is max for each team and go from there.