Is this true?

If this is true, why is it never talked about? :


In 2000, the New Jersey Devils forgot to file the paperwork to renew the contracts for Brian Rafalski and John Madden.
Rafalski was scheduled to make $450,000, while Madden would have earned $550,000 had the mistake not been made.
Instead, Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello was forced to pay market value rather than allow his two stars to go free.
Rafalski agreed to a 4-year, $11 million dollar extension. Madden signed a 4-year, $7 million dollar deal.



http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283730

1. Yes
2. Because it happened 9 years ago.

and it's mentioned quite a few times in the main board thread. I thought it had significantly bumped Madden, but I was wrong, because his UFA contract in 2004, he would have been a UFA anyway.

If this is true, why is it never talked about? :


In 2000, the New Jersey Devils forgot to file the paperwork to renew the contracts for Brian Rafalski and John Madden.
Rafalski was scheduled to make $450,000, while Madden would have earned $550,000 had the mistake not been made.
Instead, Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello was forced to pay market value rather than allow his two stars to go free.
Rafalski agreed to a 4-year, $11 million dollar extension. Madden signed a 4-year, $7 million dollar deal.



http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283730


You just figured this out?

New to the game? Welcome. The more the merrier...

News to me, I was 9~ in 2000 - wasn't really up on these types of things. :laugh:

News to me, I was 9~ in 2000 - wasn't really up on these types of things. :laugh:

I was 8, but my Dad explained EVERYTHING that happened in the NHL to me. Although this is news to me.

I remember at the time it was so strange that people actually thought Lou did it on purpose out of loyalty :laugh:

I don't think it gets mentioned much because the Devils kept both players and it was in the pre-cap era so all it did was cost YankeeNets money. Clearly it would be much, much more costly now with the Blackhawks especially given how much they're already up against the cap. Some of those guys would have to walk.

I remember at the time it was so strange that people actually thought Lou did it on purpose out of loyalty :laugh:

I don't think it gets mentioned much because the Devils kept both players and it was in the pre-cap era so all it did was cost YankeeNets money. Clearly it would be much, much more costly now with the Blackhawks especially given how much they're already up against the cap. Some of those guys would have to walk.

Well what happened was Elias and Sykora got upset:

"For sure that's going to reflect on us and how we negotiate in the future," Elias said. "They haven't treated us fair. And they're not being fair to (current holdouts Jason Arnott and Scott Niedermayer) right now. (Madden and Rafalski) got an extension because of a mistake. They played one year here. Nieder's got eight years. Arnie's played (seven)."

http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/sports/2000/09/27/2000-09-27_lamoriello_dealing_with_angr.html

It happened and it was just another mistake by you know who.

Because it's old. It's not news to those that were around back then.

The Devils kept the players and there was no salary cap back then, so it was never that big a deal. The deals they eventually got was fair eventhough they had only played one full year in the NHL.

Well what happened was Elias and Sykora got upset:

"For sure that's going to reflect on us and how we negotiate in the future," Elias said. "They haven't treated us fair. And they're not being fair to (current holdouts Jason Arnott and Scott Niedermayer) right now. (Madden and Rafalski) got an extension because of a mistake. They played one year here. Nieder's got eight years. Arnie's played (seven)."

http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/sports/2000/09/27/2000-09-27_lamoriello_dealing_with_angr.html

$675,000. gotta love the old indentured servant days. that was after Elias' 3rd full season and Sykora probably had 4 years of service time (considering the chunk of 95-96 and the portion of 96-97 before he got farmed out.

Zach got to $3M in 3 seasons.

Someone posted about Zajac beign qualified and I thought about this. I certainly hope a mistake like this never happens again!

I was 8, but my Dad explained EVERYTHING that happened in the NHL to me. Although this is news to me.

My Dad is a Flyers fan, 'nuff said :sarcasm:

I think the reason it wasn't seen as a big deal was because as fans we were all happy to see them signed for four more years rather than endure the usual annual holdout and arbitration that was a blight on the game at that time. There was no salary cap and both players were worth every cent. They were older players that had arrived via the hard route and were major contributors on the best team in the league. Most fans saw it as a positive outcome; hard as that may be to believe for younger fans used to the cap and its effect on salary scrutiny.

Correct me if I am wrong. Everyone is using this as an example of what Hawks should have happen to them.

Did Devils
1-Send contracts to league?
2-Send contracts to PA?
3-Send contracts to players that arrived late?

Because I am pretty sure that Devils forgot to send offers entirely as with Hawks they sent them to NHL and NHLPA but sent to players via mail and they arrived late.

So Hawks and Devils dont really parallel each other

Correct me if I am wrong. Everyone is using this as an example of what Hawks should have happen to them.

Did Devils
1-Send contracts to league?
2-Send contracts to PA?
3-Send contracts to players that arrived late?

Because I am pretty sure that Devils forgot to send offers entirely as with Hawks they sent them to NHL and NHLPA but sent to players via mail and they arrived late.

So Hawks and Devils dont really parallel each other
"Pretty sure?" These facts are not in evidence.

I sincerely doubt Lou Lamoriello just plain forgot to send anything at all.

It's a ways back in my memory as well (not because it's embarrassing, but rather because things worked out and the team rolled on)...

...but I'm almost positive there was something about how Madden was due a phone call, letter, or specific indication by Lou that he INTENDED to qualify him, well before the qualifying deadline, and he didn't get THAT communication, which then led to potential UFA status due to a strange loop in Madden's contract. Anyone? Help? I swear I'm not crazy :laugh:

Multiple sources say it's clearly stated in the collective bargaining agreement, qualifying offers, or QO's, as they're commonly referred to, are not supposed to be mailed, but rather faxed or delivered by courier.

In 2000, the New Jersey Devils forgot to file the paperwork to renew the contracts for Brian Rafalski and John Madden.

I can even recall a trade deadline deal that was allowed after the cutoff had come and gone because the NHL office's fax machine ran out of paper and thus did not print the deal, but because the timestamp in the fax memory showed it was sent on time, allowed to go through.

As Scotty once said, "The more they undertake the plumbing, the easier it is to stop it up..."

According to my July 2000 copy of The Hockey News (never thought I'd ever need to pull out that again), Lou filed the necessary paperwork with the league. But Madden/Rafalski both had a special clause in their contracts which required Lou to personally inform them that they were being qualified. So apparently what was a "special clause" in the last CBA has become standard practice with this CBA.

So the parallel between this and the Hawks is that Lou overlooked a unique clause whereas the Hawks used the wrong mailing service. End result was that the players weren't notified "in time."