F Rutger McGroarty - University of Michigan, NCAA (2022, 14th, WPG; traded to PIT)

[57special]

Its greasy. Then why even have a draft?!?! Just let players chose where they want to play!

Imagine that, allowing employees to choose where they work! Outrageous!

 

[thedjpd]

Imagine that, allowing employees to choose where they work! Outrageous!

This isn't run in a free market environment. Doing that will have it's own price - kill guaranteed contracts. Let's see which ones the players choose.

There's a reason the CBA exists, and the draft. The intention of the draft as it was negotiated was to hold players' rights for X amount of time in exchange for being paid an NHL salary even if you don't play in the NHL once signed (i.e., play bad enough to get demoted.) If you want employees to choose where they work, then employers can choose when they should cut them at their own will. The NCAA part is clearly a loophole and players are free to use it; until it gets closed. The funny thing about it is that this loophole is that it only benefits a small amount of players who go the NCAA route - let's let Gauthier, Mcgroarty, etc. convince the other thousands of non-NCAA draft eligible players to hold out to support this clause that benefits a very small population of players, while everybody else has to sit as as an RFA until 25. We'll see how that goes over.

These types of responses are so out of touch in today's reality. Give me my guaranteed salary, let me choose where I want to play, but my salary has to be guaranteed. Let's try reality. Are the players ok with mass cuts when teams aren't making money, like the corporate world?

"Our team lost money last year, so 7 of you 20 are fired - go find other (NHL) jobs, and we'll find people who play for $100k to take your spots."

Because there will be people who take that $100k.

Free market doesn't exist in sports, and in the NHL, it definitely protects the players more than the owners. And I'm not a billionaire to support that side. I'm for guaranteed contracts.

 

[Perfect Human]

Rutger seems like the complete opposite type of person to stiff an NHL team.

You know, I would have said the same thing. Kids these days...

 

[Golden_Jet]

He will get a roster spot (and more importantly, an NHL salary) on whichever team he is traded to. If Winnipeg doesn't want to be that team, he's playing all the cards in his hand to land with a team that will give him that. Nothing wrong with that, and he's perfectly within his rights. That's the business side of hockey. It's not entitlement, it's not laziness, it's a guy who wants to increase his salary by 15x, and he's doing what everyone on this site would do, you included, in his position.

Does seem like entitlement, no team can guarantee a spot on the club for a mid first rounder, earn your spot or get sent to the minors, that’s how ELC works.

 

[Roomba With a Bauer]

I have no problem with a guy getting drafted and then using the current rules to get out.

Teams screw over young guys all the time by burying them in the AHL until they run out of waiver exemption for "depth". Teams trade players all the time when it benefits the team and not the player.

If a team wants to draft an NCAA player and then bury him, it's their own fault when he bolts.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1805291238448676987

If that is the case the entitled little bitch can *uck right off.

Are you sure those third and fourth line mediocrities are better hockey players than him right now?

Luke Hughes stepped into the same thing. Why couldn’t Winnipeg give him what New Jersey gave Hughes?

 

[one2gamble]

I have no problem with a guy getting drafted and then using the current rules to get out.

Teams screw over young guys all the time by burying them in the AHL until they run out of waiver exemption for "depth". Teams trade players all the time when it benefits the team and not the player.

If a team wants to draft an NCAA player and then bury him, it's their own fault when he bolts.

they signed the CBA, what is it you are complaining about.

Nobody is making these "kids" play in the NHL.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I agree with you.

NIL $ have made it easier for the players to show they are willing to wait out the 4 years to allow themselves to pick their team of choice. i'd guess Rutger was finding it more difficult to face NCAA (even with $) when his buddies signed in the NHL.

Don't expect the Jets to draft Eiserman on Friday. lol

Also, this is not just a Jets problem. I know scouts from other teams who asked some American players if they would sign if drafted.

IMO, this needs to be fixed in the next NHLPA deal. NHL needs to level the playing field as much as possible so that small market teams have a fighting chance.

The fact that these players can now earn $ while playing NCAA makes it really easy to say no thanks to the AHL while the wait for their NHL career to begin.

So they already get countless advantages like taxes and the commissioner doing everything he can to keep teams in certain markets, and now they need more advantages for their own inability to provide an attractive offer to their prospects?

Maybe this is part of why the NHL has such low revenue compared to other sports. This is not a league for fans and players. This is a league for a small collection of stuffy owners and executives. Everything is to suit them. Only league out there that tries to deliberately deflate the market for their product.

 

[Roomba With a Bauer]

they signed the CBA, what is it you are complaining about.

Nobody is making these "kids" play in the NHL.

You are exactly right, both the players union and team ownerships signed the CBA. NCAA players are perfectly within their rights to sign or not sign their contracts and wait out their RFA periods and bolt for another team that will offer them a roster spot instead of burying them in the minors to burn RFA years and reduce the value of their contracts.

Players owe their teams nothing except what they are contractually bound to by the CBA.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

they signed the CBA, what is it you are complaining about.

Nobody is making these "kids" play in the NHL.

Are you a fan of hockey or a fan of owners? Never understand arguments like your one.

Who gives a crap if they signed the CBA? The owners wouldn’t make any money off the NHL without the fans. Don Fehr was an inside agent for the owners. Why should all of hockey suffer because this bum negotiated terrible deals to benefit the stuffy owners and executives?

What’s good for the health of the league should be first and foremost.

 

[Saga of the Elk]

The world has changed. I think with this generation these cases will become very common.

There's a pretty easy fix. And it's one that should be addressed soon.

Yes, a player can exercise his rights, but having a patchwork for players whose eligibility is uniform is bonkers. Sure, if a guy wants to finish college, the team keeps those rights. Otherwise, sign with the team that drafted you when they're ready to offer a contract -- like every other prospect.

Are you a fan of hockey or a fan of owners? Never understand arguments like your one.

Who gives a crap if they signed the CBA? The owners wouldn’t make any money off the NHL without the fans. Don Fehr was an inside agent for the owners. Why should all of hockey suffer because this bum negotiated terrible deals to benefit the stuffy owners and executives?

What’s good for the health of the league should be first and foremost.

That means that a drafted player's rights stay with the team that drafted him, until traded or terminated, right? Or does it mean that some guys get to ignore the draft?

 

[Fatass]

There's a pretty easy fix. And it's one that should be addressed soon.

Yes, a player can exercise his rights, but having a patchwork for players whose eligibility is uniform is bonkers. Sure, if a guy wants to finish college, the team keeps those rights. Otherwise, sign with the team that drafted you when they're ready to offer a contract -- like every other prospect.


That means that a drafted player's rights stay with the team that drafted him, until traded or terminated, right? Or does it mean that some guys get to ignore the draft?

US college kids lose their eligibility if they sign. The fix for this will come in the next CBA. The players will get UFA status after 6 years and the nhl clubs will get college kids for six years.

 

[RedHawkDown]

I find it funny when people support gigantic corporate entities over individuals who want to do best for themselves. I say good on Rutger.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

That means that a drafted player's rights stay with the team that drafted him, until traded or terminated, right? Or does it mean that some guys get to ignore the draft?

I’m pushing back on the CBA argument. If you are one of the best prospects in hockey, you should have influence. If the NHL loses you, it’s a real loss. You have power and should use it if you feel like your NHL team has wronged you. That’s how most sports work. The nobodies don’t have power and the players of value have more power than the teams. Why is hockey the only sport where the players should have no power?

 

[Saga of the Elk]

I’m pushing back on the CBA argument. If you are one of the best prospects in hockey, you should have influence. If the NHL loses you, it’s a real loss. You have power and should use it if you feel like your NHL team has wronged you. That’s how most sports work. The nobodies don’t have power and the players of value have more power than the teams. Why is hockey the only sport where the players should have no power?

No power? He can ask for a trade, or he can sign a deal with a guaranteed minimum. You don't see NFL prospects staying in college just to avoid going to the Jets. Guys understand that it's a short window, one team holds your rights, you have a finite obligation to that franchise, and if you're actually one of the "best prospects in hockey" you'll have much more leverage in future negotiations. The beauty of the draft is that it gives all 32 franchises an opportunity. This loophole makes a mockery of that parity and should be done away with asap.

 

[Static]

This doesn't seem like a small market problem. The biggest player to do this just this year left one of the biggest markets for one of the smallest. Players aren't leaving because they want bigger cities, they want to be in lineups to start their FA clock.

The issue of player leverage is one the league will need to embrace, and if they are smart, try to commodify. It needs more personalities willing to make their own path (publicly), not less.

 

[Faceboner]

If im Chicago I'm all over this reichel one of the d prospects maybe Allen and a 3rd

 

[GordieHowYaDoin]

If im Chicago I'm all over this reichel one of the d prospects maybe Allen and a 3rd

Id imagine they'd want to move into another 1st Round pick in any deal surrounding Rutger. The rumors have been a possible deal by/on draft day so thats what leads me to believe this. Where there's smoke, there's fire.

 

[Static]

Examples of players who have gone this route:

Justin Shultz - Anaheim to Edmonton
Blake Wheeler - Arizona to Boston (note, Arizona made the decision to not sign him)
Kevin Hayes - Chicago to New York
Cutter Gauthier - Philadelphia to Anaheim
Adam Fox - Calgary to Carolina to New York

And there are lower tier guys like Henry thrun, from Anaheim to San jose, sprinkled in there as well.

The point is, higher tier prospects are not leaving their small market teams for larger ones, it's generally been an issue with playing time.

 

[rsteen]

US college kids lose their eligibility if they sign. The fix for this will come in the next CBA. The players will get UFA status after 6 years and the nhl clubs will get college kids for six years.

Why are you so confident this is a priority for the owners and a big enough one that they'd give up an RFA year for it? Probably all the owners don't even agree on it. Chipman comes into the BoG meeting and says "Guys, we gotta close this NCAA loophole!", and Dolan replies, "Actually I think it's working fine just the way it is."

 

[GordieHowYaDoin]

I find it funny when people support gigantic corporate entities over individuals who want to do best for themselves. I say good on Rutger.

Most of those commentore are redditors crossing over who support and think what the TV tells them to anyway.

 

[TLEH]

The NIL excuse is complete garbage. Full stop. Maybe it will be a real one in the future, but it’s not right now. If Rutger plays, he signs.

The most I’ve heard are like 75k max. That was 1 deal to flip a commitment.

Others are like legit chipotle meals. It’s not a thing.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

Imagine that, allowing employees to choose where they work! Outrageous!

Sure just negotiate it into the CBA

 

[Hockey Duckie]

If you're in juniors, then you have two years for your NHL club to sign you. The NHL club isn't entitled to sign you. And if you're still young enough, then you get to go into the draft if you are not offered an ELC.

I don't know the complete story behind McGroarty, but it sounds like he held up his part of the bargain for the past two years of improving his game and his NHL club didn't accommodate him. If there's an impasse and if there's something that can be done, then take that route. McGroarty has the ability to walk away from his NHL club because it's allowed in the CBA.

The positive side of this is McGroarty told his team prior to the draft so the NHL club can at least get something from his rights. It's not like Justin Schultz' situation of where he told his NHL club he would sign and the Ducks were willing to sign him only for Schultz to remain quiet and ghosted the Ducks to run out the time of being the Ducks' property to become a UFA. The Ducks got nothing in return for a then-prized prospect.

 

[Kingpin794]

Imagine that, allowing employees to choose where they work! Outrageous!

Normally I'm all for workers choosing where they go BUT the NHL is not the standard workplace in any sense. What your mentioning would result in something very similar to european football. One or two teams win the league titles year in and year out and MAYBE other teams get one every 5 years or so. The draft is a good thing for the league.

I also want to point out that I have no issue with what Rutger is doing. This kind of thing doesn't happen enough that people should be getting so worked up about it.