Welcome to the Hotstove! As always, I'm your host, Travis Yost.

With the Stanley Cup Playoffs winding down, a ton of the discussion in the hockey blogosphere has shifted from the on-ice product to the preservation of said on-ice product. The Collective Bargaining Agreement is set to expire this summer, and hockey fans -- naturally -- are growing more and more fearful of a potential lockout.

Many ideas get kicked around concerning the improvement of the league, and that's expected to spike with the business of hockey sitting front-and-center in the summer of 2012.

One proposition by HockeyBuzz poster GunnerStaal certainly has generated discussion on Wednesday -- so much so, it's been submitted to the inbox of the Hotstove as the next topic of discussion by multiple users.

And, who am I to not give the people what they want?

Here's GunnerStaal's plan concerning the above-referenced addition to the next CBA:

Homegrown exception clause

Each team would be allowed to pay one homegrown player whatever they want with no cap implications. Once the deal is signed that player is locked into the exemption for the life of the contract. So basically you cannot change who you want to have the exemption halfway through the deal.

So guys like Crosby, Giroux, Ovechkin, Perry, Toews could all get their big money while not taking away from building a competitive team.

If a player w/ exemption status is traded his exemption is null and void and whatever the value of his contract is would count against the cap of the team acquiring that player. This only applies to a homegrown talent signed by the original team that drafted said player.

What say you, hockey fans? Is it feasible? What party -- if any -- would object to its inclusion this summer, and why?

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