i never understood why players dont do this more, say sid next season says ill do the same thing they would get a kings ransom for him and they would still have him.

Because usually teams selling roster players won't be competitive in the near future and players that are still good like Guentzel and Crosby can get paid as much or more on better teams and don't want to spend their final contract on bad teams indefinitely.

I think that’s considered tampering or something. Not entirely sure but sounds illegal

Actually, as long as the discussions happen before the trade, there's no tampering. I love the idea, but if word of this came out, it would cause Jake, his agent, Dubas, and the Pens to be blackballed and not have other teams make deals with them in the future.

Why would Guentzal wanna go back to that Seniors Home run by a Young Quack?

They don't do it because of the risks involved. If any word leaks out that a player has this kind of agreement, his value is completely tanked and no one is going to trade anything of value for him. Say Guentzel did something like this and word leaked, other GM's will know he's not signing with their team and would be a pure rental, so you're probably only gonna get like a 2nd or 3rd round pick for him maximum. Under the table contract agreements also run the risk of the league finding you guilty of tampering and punishing you for it with major fines, loss of draft picks, and potential voiding of the signing all together. It's a very risking play as one slip of the tongue can completely derail the plan and leave you 5 steps backwards instead of forwards.

This is the question you forget to ask in your tunnel vision of homer fandom

Que?

I don’t like that it’s allowed personally. I feel like there should be a minimum 1-year wait to return to a team. So Jake would have to sign a 1-year deal somewhere and return to PIT in ‘25-26 if desired. I don’t think it’s a major problem though. As far as it helping PIT with only the draft pick, they’d get the 30th overall pick (roughly) so is that even worth it? I’d want a roster player or a prospect too.

"We're going to trade you to VAN where you have a 1/16 chance of winning the Cup, and we expect you to return to PIT, where you'll have a 0% chance of winning a Cup."

Makes sense to me...