LW Jimmy Vesey (2012, 66th, NSH; 2016 UFA, NYR)

[Stand Witness]

You will believe whatever indicates that he is going to Toronto.

People that want him to go to Boston will place more credence on anything indicating he is headed there.

As will Nashville fans.

I am convinced he will place more preference on being part of a winning team and sign with Chicago knowing that there is a spot at LW there that he can fill.

Like I said, as far as im concerned Nashville is still the front runner but there has been little suggestion that Boston is his likely destination or even any other team.

If he wants to go to a winning team he will stick with Nashville.

If I had to place some % on where he is going I would list it as 60% Nashville, 20% Leafs, 10% Bruins, 10% elsewhere and this is just from the information we know.

 

[Highlander23]

Look, i'm a leafs fan and i want him to sign with the Preds !!

 

[Buffalo Preds]

The fact that he's from MA, and chose to stay in school there as well.

Essentially people think he will mirror Dekeysers decision albeit under different circumstances. Staying in/near your home town is a serious appeal.

Dekeyser was undrafted, and all teams were in an equal position regarding his contract and eligibility to begin playing immediately eligibility after he signed his ELC. On the other hand, if Vesey wishes to speed up his RFA eligibility date by 33% (from 2018 to 2017) he has only one option.

But maybe that's not relevant - if he felt that Nashville wouldn't be a good fit, then he would be less appealing in RFA negotiations. Or maybe he just really loves another team. In any case, the Dekeyser analogy isn't very applicable.

 

[Stand Witness]

...and the liking of Boston related tweets!!!! It's confirmed!!!!...and using that posters criteria, consensus opinion must be that Stamkos is definitely signing in Toronto because he liked a tweet once or a couple times that had said mentioned he should sign in Toronto. Leaf fans are being illogical homers...but our neutral observer uses the same logic as those people when it comes to forming his opinion. Interesting stuff.

Well if you really want to break it down then we can.

Vesey: Liked a tweet by one of his friends suggesting that the Bruins should trade for him because they need his help, after they made their moves in the summer at the draft. He did this 1 time.

Stamkos: Liked 2 different tweets linking him to the Leafs by twitter accounts he was not following.


Not really being illogical to see the difference in the 2.

 

[RichBaster]

Correct me if I am wrong but burning a year off his ELC only makes him a RFA earlier. It doesn't change the fact that he will only become a UFA at the age of 27. There is no way for him to reach the 7 year service required for him to become UFA.

I simply don't know how much of an advantage burning a year off his ELC really is. At his age any ELC will be 2 years so burning a year will make him RFA next summer. Even if he has a great year next year, he won't be getting a big contract. The team will likely give him a bridge contract with varying length on the number of years. If he has to wait the full two years before becoming RFA then the sample size will be sufficient enough for him to receive a substantial raise.

I didnt realize it but yes because of his current age of 22, signing now won't make him a UFA sooner. So yes the only thing burning off a year of his ELC will do is make him an RFA sooner. But that contract is still going to be better than his ELC so thats the main benefit with signing sooner and burning that year off.

If he has a solid debut this season and a good year next yr, it should still impact his ability to negotiate a new contract. I look at the deal Nick Bjugstad signed as an example of how he could get a big contract if he signs with Nashville now (Bjugstad signed early just to burn a year off his ELC).

There's still a few pluses to him getting a bridge contract though too as firstly, it will get him sooner to bigger money by signing now (almost assured he'll double his salary per yr). If he waits to sign his ELC, he still has to play 2 yrs before he gets that bridge deal instead of potentially 1. But for instance, say he signs a bridge deal for 3 yrs (looking at Tampa's bridge deals for Johnson and Palat as examples)...that puts him about 1 yr away from being a UFA if signed to his ELC now. That puts more pressure on Nashville (or whoever he plays for at that time if he got traded) to then sign him to a long term deal so they dont lose him via UFA. No matter how you slice it, waiting to sign his ELC means he's waiting on bigger money in his next deal(s). There's always the potential for a long term injury in hockey so making as much money as possible as soon as possible is the goal for these players.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

As a fan who went through the Mike Reilly fiasco, if Vesey doesn't sign with Nashville by Wednesday, he's probably going to UFA.

 

[leaflover]

So... Season's over, he could burn one year of his ELC and get to play in the playoffs with a good team if he signed to Nashville, or he could go anywhere he wants after the season, right?

During Saturdays Preds/Jackets broadcast they said Poile would be giving Vesey a few days to decompress following his season then they would sit down with Vesey and his family and try and get a contract signed. So this week Nashville will know 1 way or another. I can't see Vesey opting not to sign with them now but doing so postseason.
Anyway they sounded confident things would work out.

 

[sighthndlady]

I would love to see him in a Preds jersey this week, but will certainly understand if he decides to sign elsewhere. This is, unfortunately, the one glaring hole in the NHL's entry system. At a time when the NCAA is putting great pressure on schools to up their graduation rates, it puts teams directly at odds with the schools (not to mention to positive of young men actually finishing a degree) for no real reason other than not thinking it through - probably because it did not seem to be much of an issue until very recently.

I would imagine that the players also see it at unfair and that there won't be much problem changing the situation with the next CBA go round. How would y'all change it? Stretch it to December of graduation year? Require draft picks back (a la an offer sheet) from the team that signs? Give a compensating draft pick from the league - bottom of the first round?

 

[RichBaster]

I would love to see him in a Preds jersey this week, but will certainly understand if he decides to sign elsewhere. This is, unfortunately, the one glaring hole in the NHL's entry system. At a time when the NCAA is putting great pressure on schools to up their graduation rates, it puts teams directly at odds with the schools (not to mention to positive of young men actually finishing a degree) for no real reason other than not thinking it through - probably because it did not seem to be much of an issue until very recently.

I would imagine that the players also see it at unfair and that there won't be much problem changing the situation with the next CBA go round. How would y'all change it? Stretch it to December of graduation year? Require draft picks back (a la an offer sheet) from the team that signs? Give a compensating draft pick from the league - bottom of the first round?

Its really a completely separate problem as it shouldn't just be about NCAA players. Players drafted in Canadian major juniors actually have less time to sign with the teams that drafted them than the NCAA draft kids. So really, there needs to be a set of universal rules regarding signing draftees than it just have to do with NCAA graduating seniors. The rules should apply across the board, whether you are drafted from Canadian major juniors, NCAA, or even Europe. Unfortunately, the transfer rules, NCAA rules, etc affect that ability though.

Based on all that, I think the teams really should own the rights to players for at least 5 yrs so as to allow kids time to develop but not lose out on them completely. The problem with that is many kids playing in Canada juniors are usually done (at most) after their draft yr + 3 so where can they play after that if they dont have an NHL deal (many after just draft yr +2)? I think the only solution then is to allow these kids to sign AHL-only deals so they can still play professionally for a yr or 2 and continue to develop. The NHL teams would benefit too because they could see their draftees playing against pro talent and give more time before they have to sign them to their NHL contracts.

 

[93LEAFS]

I would love to see him in a Preds jersey this week, but will certainly understand if he decides to sign elsewhere. This is, unfortunately, the one glaring hole in the NHL's entry system. At a time when the NCAA is putting great pressure on schools to up their graduation rates, it puts teams directly at odds with the schools (not to mention to positive of young men actually finishing a degree) for no real reason other than not thinking it through - probably because it did not seem to be much of an issue until very recently.

I would imagine that the players also see it at unfair and that there won't be much problem changing the situation with the next CBA go round. How would y'all change it? Stretch it to December of graduation year? Require draft picks back (a la an offer sheet) from the team that signs? Give a compensating draft pick from the league - bottom of the first round?

The NHL may have trouble binding someone to a team for more than 4 years, no other league has this, it is much easier to re-enter the MLB or NFL draft. Forcing a player to be locked to one team for more than 4 years screams of the reserve clause, and the last thing the league wants is an anti trust suit, especially to stop something that doesn't happen often.

Plus, the NCAA while putting pressure to up grad rates actually focuses more on this (I know this due to caring way too much about college basketball). Here is what the NCAA focuses on, say a kid like Brandon Ingram at Duke stays only 1 year, the NCAA does not care as long as he leaves in good academic standing and on track to graduate if he stays, UK has this down to an art, UCONN ran into problems due to guys just dropping out at the end of the Bball season.

 

[kingsfan]

I believe his situation exactly has only occurred like 4 times so its hard to use whats happened "historically" to suggest anything with him (Justin Schultz, Mike Reilly and Wheeler? are the only ones that come to mind). .

Its happened many times. I believe Hyman, Knight and several others have done so in the past decade, just most aren't high profile like Vesey, mainly due to the belief that he'll do well in the NHL.

Correct me if I am wrong but burning a year off his ELC only makes him a RFA earlier. It doesn't change the fact that he will only become a UFA at the age of 27. There is no way for him to reach the 7 year service required for him to become UFA.

I simply don't know how much of an advantage burning a year off his ELC really is. At his age any ELC will be 2 years so burning a year will make him RFA next summer. Even if he has a great year next year, he won't be getting a big contract. The team will likely give him a bridge contract with varying length on the number of years. If he has to wait the full two years before becoming RFA then the sample size will be sufficient enough for him to receive a substantial raise.

In either case his RFA years are going to be undervalued. So I am simply not sure how much of an advantage burning a year off his ELC will actually end up being. I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't care about becoming RFA a year sooner. I don't think that him not signing this week makes Nashville any less likely his destination. We will see though.

If he scores 20 goals a season it could make a big difference. Instead of waiting three years to cash in, he's waiting two (or two plus the remainder of this season). That's one year sooner that he's making $1.5 million or more, which is a big chunk of change, especially when you consider the average NHL players career lasts about five seasons, something undoubtedly his agent has told him.

Haven't been around the topics, but could someone give me a rundown on why people don't see him signing with the Habs?

Mainly working with the assumption that Chris Nilan is his godfather & his father's best friend + The Habs have a flagrant need for top6 forwards + Healthy Price puts him in a decent team

Does Nilan work for the Habs? I honestly don't know.

I would love to see him in a Preds jersey this week, but will certainly understand if he decides to sign elsewhere. This is, unfortunately, the one glaring hole in the NHL's entry system. At a time when the NCAA is putting great pressure on schools to up their graduation rates, it puts teams directly at odds with the schools (not to mention to positive of young men actually finishing a degree) for no real reason other than not thinking it through - probably because it did not seem to be much of an issue until very recently.

I would imagine that the players also see it at unfair and that there won't be much problem changing the situation with the next CBA go round. How would y'all change it? Stretch it to December of graduation year? Require draft picks back (a la an offer sheet) from the team that signs? Give a compensating draft pick from the league - bottom of the first round?

It's not a glaring hole. It's the NHL and the schools working together, hence why they give the players four years to sign. A glaring hole would be like MLB where kids are drafted out of high school and have to decide within a few months if they turn pro or go to university.

This isn't an issue at all. And I wouldn't change it at all, there's no need to change it.

 

[kingsfan]

Its really a completely separate problem as it shouldn't just be about NCAA players. Players drafted in Canadian major juniors actually have less time to sign with the teams that drafted them than the NCAA draft kids. So really, there needs to be a set of universal rules regarding signing draftees than it just have to do with NCAA graduating seniors. The rules should apply across the board, whether you are drafted from Canadian major juniors, NCAA, or even Europe. Unfortunately, the transfer rules, NCAA rules, etc affect that ability though.

Based on all that, I think the teams really should own the rights to players for at least 5 yrs so as to allow kids time to develop but not lose out on them completely. The problem with that is many kids playing in Canada juniors are usually done (at most) after their draft yr + 3 so where can they play after that if they dont have an NHL deal (many after just draft yr +2)? I think the only solution then is to allow these kids to sign AHL-only deals so they can still play professionally for a yr or 2 and continue to develop. The NHL teams would benefit too because they could see their draftees playing against pro talent and give more time before they have to sign them to their NHL contracts.

So a player should stay with a team for five years? A player can't go anywhere else until he's 23, unless compensation is awarded? Any idea how much they would screw the kid in terms of negotiating a contract? Want to play in the NHL for us Jakub Vrana? Sign for the league minimum or you can go earn peanuts in the AHL or Europe for half a decade.

Why in the world would the NHLPA agree to allow five year ownership? The only reason they allow four for college kids is due o the fact kids can't sign a pro deal and keep their college eligibility, so it benefits the players to not have the pressure of deciding between giving up their college career or putting their NHL dream on hold. They can have both.

 

[Top 6 Spaling]

From what I've heard/the Players' Tribune article, he seems like a Bruins fan. I know if I were at this point in my career and I could wait two more months to play for my hometown team, I would have a hard time turning that down. I really hope he signs in Nashville, but if he waits and decides to be a Bruin, I can't blame him.

 

[DKH]

Like I said, as far as im concerned Nashville is still the front runner but there has been little suggestion that Boston is his likely destination or even any other team.

If he wants to go to a winning team he will stick with Nashville.

If I had to place some % on where he is going I would list it as 60% Nashville, 20% Leafs, 10% Bruins, 10% elsewhere and this is just from the information we know.

dont agree with your %

he may still sign with the Preds but he's big time Boston kid and Bruins fan; his Harvard coach is a former Bruins, he has two teammates (Donato and Sherman) drafted by the Bruins. The Bruins GM Don Sweeney is a Harvard guy and the Bruins even do their fitness testing at Harvard

his best friend is Matt Grzelcyk of BU and Bruins prospect who likely will be signing with Boston this week; Grzelcyk's dad works for the Bruins bull gang.

I been a Bruins season ticket holder for 34 years and my kids played league games in Charestown at that rink and I can tell you those city kids are proud of where they are from. My kid loved that rink and its history and we still pahhhk for Bruins games in Charlestown

here is an article on Vesey talking about Boston and Grzelcyk

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/...osing-teams/UHAuxTrbxfpLksMPoYRMxH/story.html

David Poile may get him in the end but to give Boston 10% is comical

 

[Woodhouse]

Ok, now you can daydream within reason:

 

[Mad Brills*]

Ok, now you can daydream within reason:

Welcome to Boston or Toronto

 

[Dabest]

Ok, now you can daydream within reason:

Cue the rumors

 

[genk]

Ok, now you can daydream within reason:

Feel for Preds fans, but this has been telegraphed for a year. Obvious, inevitable outcome.

 

[BB88]

Ok, now you can daydream within reason:

Lou is probably out and Hayes& Connolly needs to be upgraded, there's going to be spots open in the Bruins lineup.

 

[genk]

Lou is probably out and Hayes& Connolly needs to be upgraded, there's going to be spots open in the Bruins lineup.

Eliott Friedman just reported that the frontrunners are Toronto.

 

[93LEAFS]

Ok, now you can daydream within reason:

Was pretty obvious, hope Leafs can get him, Bruins and Hawks are also interesting options.

 

[Brew]

Eliott Friedman just reported that the frontrunners are Toronto.

To be honest, it makes sense. Play for arguably one of, if not, the best coach in the NHL. He'll grow with the team, has the opportunity to step right in with the team. As a Coyotes fan, I feel for Nashville, but as a Leafs fan, I'd welcome him with open arms. Hopefully Nolan gets on the big team with him in the future.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

This needs changed

 

[flashsabre]

Would look nice riding shotgun on his buddy Eichel's LW.

Sucks for the Preds and their fans.

 

[93LEAFS]

This needs changed

Naw, it hurts all teams and it comes around, Jimmy Hayes wouldn't sign with us and we smartly traded his rights before they became worthless. Its a bit extreme to lock someone who doesn't opt into a draft for them to hold their rights for over 4 years. Now if the NHL forced you to opt into the draft like the NBA it'd be a different story.