I'm still going with what the CBA seems to interpret, which is:
-If Petruzelli isn't considered as having "graduated with his class" and returns to play for a 5th year... In order for the Wings to retain his rights for that 5th year,
Petruzelli has to provide the proof to the Wings and/or the league that he hasn't met the requirements. If he does not provide this proof, the league will consider him a graduate of his class (after 4 years?) and allow his exclusive signing rights to expire on the 8/15 after the 4th year of college.
This would have no bearing on his ability to return to play for Quinnipiac for a 5th year. Just means he no longer has attachment to an NHL club. Obviously, if he changes his mind and wishes to sign an NHL contract now, he can, but would have to move to the pro level and forego that 5th year. Otherwise, if he plays his 5th year at Quinnipiac free of NHL rights, he can sign with an NHL club as soon as Quinnipiac's season is done this spring (ala DeKeyser, Hirose, etc. etc.).
I suppose that some of the following are possible regarding KP:
-He and/or the Red Wings had no intention of signing (for KP possibly from the beginning, for Wings possibly at some point during his college tenure - see below about what Horcoff had to say a couple years back)
-KP wants to be in school to finish his civil engineering degree
-KP feels like he has unfinished business with Quinnipiac as far as hockey is concerned - IE didn't take over the starting job as early as expected, first year as starter got ended early due to the pandemic, this past season his team had a couple of heartbreaking losses in tournaments - and a 5th year and 3rd as starter gives him an another shot
-Maybe KP wants another shot to get to the Frozen Four, since the 2022 tournament has a regional in his home state of Mass., with the actual Frozen Four being at TD Garden in Boston
-KP could be betting on himself that another big year for Quinnipiac will get him more NHL interest, affording him more potential opportunities, including singing his required 2-year ELC in the spring, which would burn the first year of the ELC for the rest of 21-22 and get him closer to his potential bridge years and Group VI UFA status.
-Perhaps KP is from a affluent background and isn't worried about missing out on bonuses and an AHL salary that he's likely going get when he eventually signs his NHL ELC anyway.
-Whether there's a clear opportunity or not, KP has his heart set on singing an NHL contract with the team that he likely grew up supporting, the Boston Bruins, and this whole 5th year thing possibly allowing him to become a free agent allows that to happen.
-Perhaps the Wings made a decision long ago that they weren't going to offer KP a contract. And Yzerman's kind of confused responses to questions about him were just keep his cards close to the vest in case a team wanted to trade for KP's rights and/or to not show even the slightest bit of they hand eventually played at the draft in regards to future goaltending.
Maybe the Wings allowed KP and/or his agent, if he has one, to talk to other teams to gauge interest and possibly work out a trade for a late pick, but they found little interest, or weren't satisfied with the interested teams and/or opportunities that were presented (IE bonuses/salary, no guarantee he won't end up in the ECHL, etc.).
"Instead of signing him to an entry level pact, the Wings opted to walk way from Petruzzelli’s NHL rights."
Kid must have been a little douche bag or something
Not saying it correlates in any way, but that does remind me of the article from the Wings site from May of last year where Horcoff almost seems to insinuate that Petruzzelli was, after 3 years, finally starting to move in the right direction:
By The Numbers Prospects: Keith Petruzzelli
In the fall of 2017, Petruzzelli began his collegiate career at Quinnipiac with high expectations that he would be in the thick of the competition to win the starting job as the Bobcats No. 1 goalie.
However, the task of balancing academics and athletics proved to be difficult for Petruzzelli, who did not excel on the ice or in the classroom.
He persevered, but there was concern among officials at Quinnipiac and Detroit's brass that Petruzzelli might lack the discipline to reach his unlimited potential.
The Massachusetts native followed up his disappointing freshman season with a much better sophomore campaign, but he was still the Bobcats' backup goalie, which put his upcoming junior season under intense scrutiny.
Finally securing the starting job in net, Petruzzelli put together a breakout season, establishing many individual career highs and becoming one of college hockey's leading goaltenders.
For his efforts, he received the honor of being named Quinnipiac's Most Valuable Player.
Petruzzelli's play also propelled him back into the mix of perhaps someday becoming the Red Wings' netminder of the future.
"Keith had a really good bounce-back year this year, good for him. I think for Keith, when we drafted him, we had a really physically and mentally immature player. He had no idea what it took to be a pro, he had no idea what eating habits, workout habits, sleeping habits (he needed). There was a lot for him to work on and to his credit, he's starting to figure that out and he's starting to put the time in and he's starting to mature and he's starting to do the necessary things it takes to become a solid goaltender. He's getting results because of it. Kudos to him for being able to do that. Obviously this is just the start, there's a long ways for him to go but he's moving in the right direction." - Shawn Horcoff, Red Wings director of player development and assistant director of player personnel
To me, the Horcoff bit almost seems to have a tone like "
finally he decided to listen to us", and the "good for him" and "kudos to him" almost seems to convey backhanded praise or even Horcoff addressing him like he's no longer in their plans or something. But that's just me.
And the bit in the article about KP "propelling back into the mix" makes it sound like the Wings had at some point given up on him.
Does anyone know why the expiry on his rights jumped from Aug 15th, 2021 to Aug 15th, 2022? Capfriendly error? Or did something happen where his rights were extended?
Detroit Red Wings Reserve List Players - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps
I wonder if CapFriendly is keeping him on the list because under the CBA it is possible for his rights to remain with the Wings for that 5th year under certain circumstances, and since their hasn't really been any sort of official statement about it, they figure it'll be easier and less time consuming to just drop him from it when they know for sure, instead of dropping him from it now purely based on speculation and then have to go and put him back on if it turns out his rights still belong to the Wings.
But all that said, I would think if the Wings were still going to have his rights for one more season and thought there might even be a tiny shred of possibility he could fit somewhere in the organization after next season (considering Cossa likely has 2 more years in junior, Larsson/Brattstrom/Fulcher are all RFA's that could go unqualified, Bednar and Gylander aren't close, Eliasson is going to need a huge year to get signed and who the hell knows if they even remember they still have Joren Van Pottelbergh's rights (if they do actually still have his rights)), they wouldn't be letting him attend, let alone get invited to, another NHL clubs development camp.
My money would be on the Wings rights to him expiring yesterday after one or both parties hard-lined on not wanting to sign and Petruzzelli decided not to prove to the NHL that wasn't graduated so he could cut ties. With it being announced that Petruzzelli was going for a 5th year and with the fate of his NHL rights in his hands, he probably had no value in a trade. Thus, the Wings probably just gave him permission to talk to other teams about latching onto a development camp earlier than when the rights expired.
Anybody got Ansar Khan's Venmo? At this point I'll send him $50 to make sure he gets the answer from someone in the Wings organization. I'm not going to consider Art because he's annoying, and HSJ can't even remember the NHL roster size is 23 men even when it's been at that limit during her entire 20+ year tenure of being absolutely useless as a Red Wings writer.