Quoting: svensk_forskare
How does Columbus not win? They save cash dollars and Gus was never going to play another game for them
Bettman’s LTIR threat—essentially a midseason rule change with barely 72 hours remaining until the deadline—was wholly inappropriate and targeted. First, rule changes should be voted on, and in the off-season. This practice has been allowed for years. As for targeted, Nyquist and Henrique were the only impacted players, on losing teams in non-traditional, oft overlooked NHL markets. Avs we’re not warned about keeping Landeskog on LTIR until they need him for the playoffs, just like TBL has abused the spirit of the hard cap for years. The Rangers trading, waiving, and demoting players—even holding Kane’s placeholder to a 13-second shift so they could safely discard him today—was all done to manipulate the cap. Kudos to those teams; NHL rules have allowed it, NHL rules still allow it.
But by unfairly singling out the Ducks and Jackets, their assets took massive hits. The market shrunk to the few teams with excess cap. Ironically, the Wild’s irresponsible dual 13-year contracts left them in buyout purgatory, necessitating the buffer. And the edict struck any notion of making the pick conditional on Nyquist’s % of play or MIN’s progression, very common stipulations.
At the least, Nyquist should have netted a 4th round pick, escalating to a 3rd if he played X% of games. With the LTIR loophole and retained salary, he could have yielded even more.
Yes, CBJ received a pick for a pending FA. But it was artificially below value, while parting with an assistant captain that loved his time in Columbus.