Joined: May 2016
Posts: 14,721
Likes: 6,219
Elliotte Friedman was on NHL radio a few days ago with an interesting take on the Jamie Drysdale situation in Anaheim.
Apparently Drysdale thought he was ready to go at the end of last season. The recovery from his injury was projected to be 4-6 months. Professional athletes generally come in on the lower end of that time frame since they're in such great physical shape. However, Verbeek told him that they were going to err on the side of caution and take the entire 6 months since the season was meaningless anyway. Drysdale was fine with it at the time.
However, what he didn't know (and more importantly wasn't told by Verbeek) was that since he played only 8 games last season and not 10, he doesn't qualify as a full-fledged RFA, but rather as a 10.2(c) player that is ineligible for offer sheets. Had he come back and played in the last two games of the season in April, he would have received the full RFA status.
Supposedly Drysdale wanted a 1-year small money "prove it" deal so he could ask for a bigger payday next season when the cap increases substantially and he had his full Group 2 RFA status. The Ducks used his limited 10.2(c) status against him in negotiations by not even putting a one-year deal on the table, and Drysdale (and other players) are apparently not very happy about it.