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One Quick Fix for the Trade Deadline. Does it need fixing? Wed's Buzzcast

March 2, 2016, 12:44 PM ET [129 Comments]
Eklund
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I know there are many of you out there who will say the trade deadline doesn't need fixing. There are many who feel that it "is what it is. "And you might be right, when we look at what happens on the trade deadline, in this day and age of the salary cap and shrinking options, you end up seeing missed opportunities for both teams looking to get better and teams needing help in the future.

What if everyone was allowed to add a pending unrestricted free agent on the trade deadline day without having to think about the cap implications for the next two months? Wouldn't that benefit everyone?

If you were a team in "selling mode" you would have far more suitors for your top players and therefore get much more in return. And if a team is willing to pick up a player, maybe even a star player for example, as long as that player is a pending UFA, one could do so. So the NHL would benefit by keeping its better players playing in the playoffs.

And as a side benefit, no one would have to question some rather suspicious 'long-term injury reserve' situations which tend to occur right before the trade deadline.

I asked a few high-ranking team officials if they thought this would work and got several different takes on it.

One texted me:

"ha ha Gary would never go for it but it would be awesome"

Another wrote in an email:
'I see the benefits of this in terms of player movement, and creating a very exciting trade deadline day, but my fear would be that the 2-3 best teams would get the best UFA's. The No Movement clauses would still be binding, so the UFA's could determine which teams they would agree to be moved to. In other words, I believe the 2-3 best teams would just get better.

If I were a team who managed my cap to take advantage of opportunities at the Trade Deadline, I would be unhappy that other teams get a "freebie"."

While I agree with the email response I also believe that since the team would only be allowed to pick up one player like this and because this would be taken into account while doing Cap Management I don't believe just two or three teams will get better.

Another told me:

'I do believe the NHL could head in this direction, because the trade deadline has lost a lot of its glamour and become incredibly predictable."


Tell me what you think, and if you don't like this idea how would you fix the trade deadline? Or do you not think it needs fixing at all?

We will discuss all this and more today's Hockeybuzzcast at 1 o'clock.




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