Confirmed with Link: Nichushkin back in assistance program; suspended a minimum of six months

[henchman21]

I could be wrong, but wasn’t Frank one of the guys that said we had to respect Nuke’s privacy in this?

 

[ABasin]

Seravalli in today's podcast:

"When you blow off a morning skate in Seattle, and you have a frantic 911 call in your room, and there's a woman found heavily intoxicated that needs to be carted out, and you get whisked away by Avalanche security, I mean...it was truly one of the most underreported stories ever. Had this been another time in another place...I mean he just showed up at training camp again and it's like nothing ever happened. Everyone knew that he left the team under murky circumstances but they kept it under wraps"

As they likely will again.

 

[LOFIN]

National guys don't care enough about the Avs to dig deep into stories like that and the people covering the team are too afraid to lose their credentials to say or write anything that the Avs wouldn't approve.

Sure, then just shut up (Frank, not you). I'm pretty sure Frank has sources inside the league, and people around the league. He just doesn't himself say anything, because he's afraid that he will lose his sources. And this is also why no reporter at first told anything about the Perry circumstances, until the Blackhawks themselves put it out there (through a beat) to shut down rumours regarding Bedard and his family. And this is why there was zero coverage of the Blackhawks stuff until Rick Westhead dropped the bomb, because he's not afraid of his insider sources around the league.

It's just hypocrisy. He's one of the biggest insiders in the sport. He knows what happened, at least he knows more than we know. He could put it out there, but won't. He probably also knew what was going on with Perry, didn't report any of it, then cried in twitter because people were speculating with wild rumours.

You are the reporter. Do your job.

 

[Alex Jones]

Seravalli in today's podcast:

"When you blow off a morning skate in Seattle, and you have a frantic 911 call in your room, and there's a woman found heavily intoxicated that needs to be carted out, and you get whisked away by Avalanche security, I mean...it was truly one of the most underreported stories ever. Had this been another time in another place...I mean he just showed up at training camp again and it's like nothing ever happened. Everyone knew that he left the team under murky circumstances but they kept it under wraps"

Oh the media suddenly has the green light to talk about the Nuke in Seattle incident? Huh.

I wonder what other stuff the media is going to be allowed to report on now.

 

[Avs_19]

Lol Frank doing his best to try to not say the quiet part out loud. First "it involved a party drug....." and then "Nathan MacKinnon won't even put coca-cola in his body and others....."

I know he just wanted to start singing about Val.....

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Good luck dealing with the NHLPA...They might have a say in this one.

Depends. I mean, if Nuke is terminated without compensation or hell yes, they will fight. But if we paid Nuke to leave and he was happy with it, I don't see why they would be upset because the Avs are going to turn right around and use that cap space on someone else. Players will still be getting paid. Just different players. I could see them being okay with that arrangement.

 

[LOFIN]

Depends. I mean, if Nuke is terminated without compensation or hell yes, they will fight. But if we paid Nuke to leave and he was happy with it, I don't see why they would be upset because the Avs are going to turn right around and use that cap space on someone else. Players will still be getting paid. Just different players. I could see them being okay with that arrangement.

NHLPA might be ok with it. The NHL itself however, no chance. That would be egregious circumvention of the cap. Basically a buyout without the cap penalty. Yeah, you can't do that.

 

[LOFIN]

 

[The Moops]

What's the procedure for if Nuke doesn't apply for reinstatement? Or he doesn't finish the program in 6 months? Like if he just f***s off to Russia. Are we left with dead cap?

 

[LOFIN]

What's the procedure for if Nuke doesn't apply for reinstatement? Or he doesn't finish the program in 6 months? Like if he just f***s off to Russia. Are we left with dead cap?

Well obviously that would then be grounds for contract termination.

 

[Snow Arc]

For those interested, next season starts 4th October 2024. He can return 14th November, 2024 (that's only 1 month, 10 days), so he won't actually miss that much for us.

We need to think with our hearts here. You don't cast aside a person when they are at their lowest ebb. You nurture, reassure, validate and support both mentally and physically. That's my club.

Well, they could make him play in a nun's habit.

Unfortunately, you can't just staple a 24/7 Minime to a high octane athlete like Alex suggested.

 

[henchman21]

NHLPA might be ok with it. The NHL itself however, no chance. That would be egregious circumvention of the cap. Basically a buyout without the cap penalty. Yeah, you can't do that.

Mutual and just pure terminations have happened with fair regularity. Not to this amount, but they happen. The odds of some cap hit are high here, but not guaranteed given the situation.

 

[pont]

Lol Frank doing his best to try to not say the quiet part out loud. First "it involved a party drug....." and then "Nathan MacKinnon won't even put coca-cola in his body and others....."

I know he just wanted to start singing about Val.....

you

Not to get on a rant, but putting colas in your body is a VERY bad thing. Just go to one of the "bodies" exhibits will get you off the crap in a hurry. Rant over ...

 

[LOFIN]

Mutual and just pure terminations have happened with fair regularity. Not to this amount, but they happen. The odds of some cap hit are high here, but not guaranteed given the situation.

Sure, but they don't include a club paying the player for the termination. If that was legal, there would be no bad contracts in the league. Toronto would just tell Tavares "We're going to pay you 20 million dollars to f*** off". Teams would just pay their way out of bad contracts. I mean they are doing it now, it's just called a buyout, and gives a cap penalty.

 

[henchman21]

Sure, but they don't include a club paying the player for the termination. If that was legal, there would be no bad contracts in the league. Toronto would just tell Tavares "We're going to pay you 20 million dollars to f*** off"

Both Kane and Perry got paid to f*** off. So did Richards.

The difference between Tavares and the others is that Tavares has zero reason to accept any sort of mutual termination. By his rights, Toronto, if they want him to go away is buy him out for 2/3 and signing bonus. With Nuke, there is a legitimate case to terminate the contract if he doesn't accept a mutual termination where he'd get less than 2/3 + bonus for sure.

 

[LOFIN]

Both Kane and Perry got paid to f*** off. So did Richards.

And it cost their teams in cap penalties. So essentially a buyout.

The difference between Tavares and the others is that Tavares has zero reason to accept any sort of mutual termination.

You are right, he doesn't. Except he would be paid 12 million more for not playing than playing. And technically, he could then re-sign with a league minimum contract to play for Toronto or everyone else. So yes, he wouldn't technically have to. I also wouldn't have to date Ana de Armas if she called me. But I would be mad not to.

With Nuke, there is a legitimate case to terminate the contract if he doesn't accept a mutual termination where he'd get less than 2/3 + bonus for sure.

What are you even talking about? The player is not asked about a buyout. Teams can't just terminate contracts at their own desire.

 

[Toothless Legend]

I'll just be over here holding my breath for a Zadina situation.

 

[henchman21]

And it cost their teams in cap penalties. So essentially a buyout.

You are right, he doesn't. Except he would be paid 12 million more for not playing than playing. And technically, he could then re-sign with a league minimum contract to play for Toronto or everyone else. So yes, he wouldn't technically have to. I also wouldn't have to date Ana de Armas if she called me. But I would be mad not to.

What are you even talking about? The player is not asked about a buyout. Teams can't just terminate contracts at their own desire.

Yeah but not the full buyout.

In the Tavares situation the buyout makes no sense because of his signing bonus.

Teams can terminate contracts for a number of reasons, it is not any desire to do so... but Nuke's consistent drug use violates a number of items in the SPC and likely team rules that can be applied here. There are grounds to just terminate it. Now the NHLPA would file a grievance and it would likely end up with a settlement ala Kane/Richards/Perry, but the case against Nuke is there. Where each parties' risk tolerance lies is essentially where this will go. To me, the most likely here is the Avs and Nuke agree on something prior to July 1 for less than a traditional buy out... over $10m but less than $15m. Avs take a cap hit over a set number of years. Nuke gets to sign elsewhere immediately to start recouping the money.

 

[LOFIN]

Teams can terminate contracts for a number of reasons, it is not any desire to do so... but Nuke's consistent drug use violates a number of items in the SPC and likely team rules that can be applied here. There are grounds to just terminate it. Now the NHLPA would file a grievance and it would likely end up with a settlement ala Kane/Richards/Perry, but the case against Nuke is there. Where each parties' risk tolerance lies is essentially where this will go. To me, the most likely here is the Avs and Nuke agree on something prior to July 1 for less than a traditional buy out... over $10m but less than $15m. Avs take a cap hit over a set number of years. Nuke gets to sign elsewhere immediately to start recouping the money.

That's like saying that I can go out on the ice and cross-check someone in the head. Yes, this is technically true, I can do it. I also get punished for it.

When we are talking about contract termination in the case of Nuke, we are talking about the potential for a situation where the Avs can terminate the contract because of a valid reason, and the NHLPA can do f*** all about it. The Avs terminating the contract and then getting slapped by the league (or whoever settles the grievances) with cap penalties and other bullshit is by definition NOT "a valid reason to terminate a contract".

 

[henchman21]

That's like saying that I can go out on the ice and cross-check someone in the head. Yes, this is technically true, I can do it. I also get punished for it.

When we are talking about contract termination in the case of Nuke, we are talking about the potential for a situation where the Avs can terminate the contract because of a valid reason, and the NHLPA can do f*** all about it. The Avs terminating the contract and then getting slapped by the league (or whoever settles the grievances) with cap penalties and other bullshit is by definition NOT "a valid reason to terminate a contract".

The Richards case was exactly what you described there. A contract that was terminated, a grievance was filed, and a settlement and cap penalties hit. This is a situation that can be avoided with a mutual termination prior and all parties can be better off with less risk.

Kane and Perry were also terminated for valid reasons and the teams still had to pay. Paying out does not mean the termination wasn’t valid, but that an agreement can made where none of the parties have to take the risk of it being decided in court or by a mediator. This isn’t common, but it has happened.

 

[Chiarelli]

Seravalli loves the hindsight revisionist shit. Look at how he talked about Mark Stone's LTIR thing this year.

 

[Bender]

I don't see why the Avs would accept the need to pay ANY cap hit penalty going forward. Cash penalty/settlement whatever - fine.

The San Jose Sharks got out completely from E.Kane's 7X7M contract WITH ZERO CAP implications. Why would they benefit from that and not the Avs ? Because the league is going to shaft us ??

 

[LOFIN]

The Richards case was exactly what you described there. A contract that was terminated, a grievance was filed, and a settlement and cap penalties hit. This is a situation that can be avoided with a mutual termination prior and all parties can be better off with less risk.

Yes yes, we all get that. But as I tried to explain, mutual termination where the player is paid is cap circumvention. Think about it for a second. The CBA actually has a rule in place for this regarding renegotiation of contracts, but it's pretty obvious that this would also apply in a case where the Avs would pay Nuke to f*** off back to Russia.

The buyout is there to obviously guarantee the players some money, but it's also there to prevent teams from circumventing the cap by paying stupid contracts and then getting out of them for free. That's what some teams did with those extremely long front loaded contracts, and that's why they came up with the cap-recapture penalty.

Kane and Perry were also terminated for valid reasons and the teams still had to pay. Paying out does not mean the termination wasn’t valid, but that an agreement can made where none of the parties have to take the risk of it being decided in court or by a mediator. This isn’t common, but it has happened.

No they weren't, that's why they had to settle. And the club ended up being punished.

 

[Chiarelli]

I don't see why the Avs would accept the need to pay ANY cap hit penalty going forward. Cash penalty/settlement whatever - fine.

The San Jose Sharks got out completely from E.Kane's 7X7M contract WITH ZERO CAP implications. Why would they benefit from that and not the Avs ? Because the league is going to shaft us ??

this is definitely the hope. It makes no sense why we would have a cap hit eaten up for a player that will never play for us again.

 

[henchman21]

Yes yes, we all get that. But as I tried to explain, mutual termination where the player is paid is cap circumvention. Think about it for a second. The CBA actually has a rule in place for this regarding renegotiation of contracts, but it's pretty obvious that this would also apply in a case where the Avs would pay Nuke to f*** off back to Russia.

No they weren't, that's why they had to settle. And the club ended up being punished.

A mutual buyout is not prohibited.

That’s not how it works. Settlements are to eliminate the risk of losing outright.