Free agency changes in COVID-19
There was no free-agent frenzy this Canada Day.
Player agents weren’t talking to general managers to finalize signings, Sportsnet and TSN didn’t have 101 commentators talking about unrestricted free-agent centre Derek Grant giving it another whirl with Anaheim Ducks and PR people weren’t lining up calls with general managers.
Free-agency starting date will now be in October — or maybe Nov. 1, a few days after the NHL draft — accompanied by the usual speed-dating process with some of the 300 UFAS to see if any are interested in a relationship, all of them knowing there’s only so much food on the table.
The salary cap will be $81.5 million US for the next two seasons. It is not a good time to be a free agent, a big name or a smaller one, although we’ll see with Alex Pietrangelo and Taylor Hall.
“From what I understand, all player contracts (that normally ended June 30) will be rolled over until Nov. 1, so that’ll be the old July 1,” said Rick Valette, whose Octagon agency represents Oilers’ Ryan Nugent-hopkins and Leon
Draisaitl.
Until COVID-19, most thought the salary-cap ceiling would be around $84 million or so for 2020-21. A new TV deal (U.S. rights) could have added another $6 to $8 million to the cap, so about $92 million in a few years.
Not now.
Instead of the free-agent doors swinging open July 1, some players - such as Connor Mcdavid ($13 million) and Draisaitl ($7 million) - were due huge signing bonuses.
Mcdavid’s base salary is $2 million for the 2020-2021 season, same as Draisaitl’s. The owners haven’t been making any money for over three months, but it was expected the bonus payouts wouldn’t be delayed.
“Some players may want the (signing bonus) money in their hands and other may want to defer it because of escrow (20 per cent next season),” said a prominent agent.
“Right now,” added Milan Lucic’s Edmonton-based agent
Gerry Johannson, “we’re just giving our players guidance that it could be a tough year (negotiating). We’re telling them that this is the year to take a deal even if it’s not the one you might want. It’s like musical chairs. There are 100 players and only 75 chairs.”
Because of the NHL’S work stoppage March 12, there was no draft a week ago. No July 1 raft of player signings. In 2013, it was pushed back to July 5 after the lockout season, but that was only four days later. This will be three months or more.
“Usually by July 1, most deals with teams are either done or wrapping up stuff and on July 3 and July 4, we’re calling teams and saying: ‘Please sign our guys,’” said The Sports Corporation’s Johannson with a laugh.
Before, teams were allowed a public romancing period with UFAS after the draft, where they could go and visit a few cities, agents and managers doing the framework of deals quietly.
“Right now, we don’t have many unrestricted free agents. It’s about getting extensions for guys like Ryan Getzlaf and Brendan Gallagher, coming up to the last year of their contracts,” said Johannson.