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• Elliotte Friedman Scrapping long-term NHL contracts is a bad idea Craig Leipold, Chuck Fletcher and the citizens of Minnesota certainly won't care, but a franchise-changing week for their Wild reignited the debate over long-term NHL "cap circumventing" deals. Here's the thing, though: changing the rules is an even worse idea. Posted: Monday, July 8, 2013 | 09:12 AM
• Jason Liu Hockey Night Analysts Entry 1 Hockey Night Analysts Entry 1 body Posted: Tuesday, April 23, 2013 | 12:05 PM
• Jason Liu Stanley Cup 2013 Blog 2 Stanley Cup 2013 Blog 2 bodyThis blog will appear on HNIC and NHLAdditional content Posted: Sunday, April 21, 2013 | 12:31 PM
• Jason Liu Stanley Cup 2013 Blog 1 Stanley Cup 2013 Blog 1 body.This blog will appear under NHL, Playoffs 2012 Second Round, Stanley Cup final Posted: Sunday, April 21, 2013 | 12:29 PM
• Lucy Gu Testing Opinion piece This is the body Posted: Friday, April 19, 2013 | 03:27 PM
• Andrew Phillips Testing I'm Testing. Posted: Monday, March 25, 2013 | 05:17 PM
• Lucy Gu Scrapping long-term NHL contracts is a bad idea Craig Leipold, Chuck Fletcher and the citizens of Minnesota certainly won't care, but a franchise-changing week for their Wild reignited the debate over long-term NHL "cap circumventing" deals.Here's the thing, though: changing the rules is an even worse idea. We don't know what the free-agency rules are going to be in the new CBA, but we do know this: the Nashville Predators need to find common ground with Shea Weber. And, next summer, the Pittsburgh Penguins are going to have to do the same with Evgeni Malkin.And, if there is a shorter term limit for contracts, franchise players like Weber and Malkin are going to have no choice but the start the negotiations with one sentence."I'll take the max."The NHL and (some) of its teams might not like the twin 13-year, $98 million deals signed by Ryan Suter and Zach Parise. But, let's say for argument's sake, hockey had a system where players could only sign five-year contracts.Suter is 27. Parise is weeks away from 28. Weber will be just shy of 28 when he (tentatively) hits free agency next summer. Malkin will be 26 when (under current rules) the Penguins can begin negotiating an extension with him.All of those players will be in their primes, and in pro sports, your window for maximum earning is finite. With the current "super contracts," you can take less money on the back end to help your team's cap situation.With a five-year maximum, you can't. None of those guys is going down to $1 or $2 million at age 31 or 32 -- nor should they. It's completely unreasonable to expect the league's best players to do that, especially in a sport where one big hit can ruin your career. Posted: Tuesday, July 10, 2012 | 03:41 PM
• Tim Wharnsby Parise, Suter signings a victory for a passionate hockey market Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, the most celebrated unrestricted free agents in the 2012 NHL class shocked the hockey world on Wednesday by together choosing the Minnesota Wild with identical 13-year, $98-million contracts. Posted: Wednesday, July 4, 2012 | 04:39 PM
• Doug Harrison Brad Boyes finds right fit with Weight, Islanders New York Islanders assistant coach Doug Weight was hoping to convince unrestricted free agent Brad Boyes, his former St. Louis Blues linemate, to join him on Long Island. All it took was one phone on Canada Day Posted: Monday, July 2, 2012 | 01:25 PM
• Tim Wharnsby Canucks get Garrison, Habs and Sens busy, too The Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators were the busiest Canadian clubs on the opening day for the 2012 free-agent period. But it was the Vancouver Canucks who landed the highest profile free agent out of the seven Canadian franchises when they inked local product Jason Garrison on Sunday evening. Posted: Sunday, July 1, 2012 | 08:08 PM
• Tim Wharnsby Complete list of 2012 NHL free agents The National Hockey League released the names of the players, who, effective today, became free agents on July 1. Some players whose names appear on this list may recently have signed with their respective Clubs; however, their contracts had not yet been filed with the League. Posted: Sunday, July 1, 2012 | 12:17 PM
• Doug Harrison Q&A: NHL free agent Brad Boyes on search for new home For the first time in seven years, following four NHL trades, former Buffalo Sabres right-winger Brad Boyes can decide his hockey future. As of noon ET Sunday, he will be one of more than 300 unrestricted free agents to hit the open market. Posted: Sunday, July 1, 2012 | 07:45 AM
• Tim Wharnsby Oilers get coveted young D-man in Schultz The Edmonton Oilers decision to take sniper forward Nail Yakupov over steady defenceman Ryan Murray looks even better now that the Oilers landed prized unrestricted free agent defenceman Justin Schultz. Posted: Saturday, June 30, 2012 | 07:05 PM
• Tim Wharnsby Doan and Brodeur are among the intriguing UFAs on July 1 Another July 1 will arrive on Sunday and in the hockey world that mean's the free-agent frenzy begins. This isn't an overly strong unrestricted free-agent class, but there are some intriguing candidates to follow. Here is a list of a half-dozen of the most interesting free-agents in the hockey world. Posted: Friday, June 29, 2012 | 02:26 PM
• Tim Wharnsby Signing Sidney Crosby long term a no-brainer Signing Sidney Crosby to a 12-year, $104.4-million US extension was a no-brainer for Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Ray Shero. The salary cap hit for the Pittsburgh captain remains at $8.7 million, Crosby's preferred number because he was born Aug. 7, 1987 and he wears sweater No. 87. Posted: Thursday, June 28, 2012 | 02:23 PM
• Elliotte Friedman NHL collective bargaining: The issues We all debate who deserves what or who's going to get what, but negotiations usually come down to "who blinks first," as one NHL executive says. Here are some thoughts and ideas into where we're going as collective bargaining is about to begin between the league and players' union. Posted: Thursday, June 28, 2012 | 01:15 PM
• Elliotte Friedman Time for consensus, not conflict, in NHL labour talks In upcoming labour negotiations between the NHL and the players' union, NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr probably will propose increased revenue-sharing while team owners most would like to see increased cost certainty. The bottom line is a lost 2012-13 season is a complete failure for the players, ownership and the league. Posted: Thursday, June 28, 2012 | 10:17 AM
• Tim Wharnsby New Oilers coach more than career hockey man New Edmonton Oilers head coach Ralph Krueger is not like the Jack Adams-winning Ken Hitchcock, a career coach who worked his way from junior to assistant coach in the NHL to minor pro and back to the NHL as a head coach. He's also different than Stanley Cup-winning bench boss Darryl Sutter, who immediately began a career in coaching after his playing days. Posted: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 | 04:12 PM