Monday, October 31, 2005
Rob To The Rescue
Dan Cloutier suffered a concussion as a result of a collision with teammate Nolan Baumgartner during Saturday night's game in Colorado. He will be out at least a week. Cloutier bashers will be happy to know that Alex Auld will assume the starting goaltender role, albeit temporarily. The Canucks have also recalled goalie Rob McVicar from the Manitoba Moose to back-up Auld.
McVicar's recall demonstrates a new clause in the CBA regarding minor-league call-ups:
Flaherty is only the first Canucks player to be directly affected by this rule, and he certainly won't be the last. As much as the rule restricts teams' ability to reward well-performing and well-paid players in their minor league systems, it also restricts teams' ability to send underperforming and well-paid players back to the minors. For example, some arguments can be made that after 10 strong NHL games to start the season, Nolan Baumgartner has regressed slightly. Especially in the last two games against the Avalanche, he was less than stellar and made key mistakes that led directly to Colorado goals. In previous years, the Canucks would have been able to send a message and ship Baumgartner to the Moose. However, he too is subject to the $75,000 rule this season, and even if the Canucks wanted to demote him to the Moose and reward a Jason Doig or a Kevin Bieksa, he would have to be placed on waivers first. Much like in Flaherty's case, it is unlikely the Canucks would want to risk losing Baumgartner to waivers, and deservedly or not, would instead keep him up in the big leagues.
To quote Tom Benjamin, remember the days when NHL teams were permitted to hire the best player available?
McVicar's recall demonstrates a new clause in the CBA regarding minor-league call-ups:
Any player in the minors who makes more than $75,000 has to clear waivers before he can join the big club. If the player is claimed off waivers, each team is responsible for 50 percent of his salary which will count against the cap.Based on play in the early season, Flaherty is the Canucks' no. 3 goalie. He has a 4-2-0 record, including 2 shutouts, a 1.74 GAA and a .943 SV%. By comparison, McVicar has 2-1-0 record, a 2.25 GAA and a .919 SV%. Flaherty's $114,000 minor-league contract, however, means that he is subject to waivers, and the Canucks obviously didn't want to risk another team picking him up. With McVicar's recall, the Canucks aren't rewarding the next best player in their system, they are simply calling up the next player whose contract works best with the new CBA. Flaherty was one of those opposed to the "$75,000 rule" - and now that he's been directly affected by it, you can bet he's even more opposed to it now.
Flaherty is only the first Canucks player to be directly affected by this rule, and he certainly won't be the last. As much as the rule restricts teams' ability to reward well-performing and well-paid players in their minor league systems, it also restricts teams' ability to send underperforming and well-paid players back to the minors. For example, some arguments can be made that after 10 strong NHL games to start the season, Nolan Baumgartner has regressed slightly. Especially in the last two games against the Avalanche, he was less than stellar and made key mistakes that led directly to Colorado goals. In previous years, the Canucks would have been able to send a message and ship Baumgartner to the Moose. However, he too is subject to the $75,000 rule this season, and even if the Canucks wanted to demote him to the Moose and reward a Jason Doig or a Kevin Bieksa, he would have to be placed on waivers first. Much like in Flaherty's case, it is unlikely the Canucks would want to risk losing Baumgartner to waivers, and deservedly or not, would instead keep him up in the big leagues.
To quote Tom Benjamin, remember the days when NHL teams were permitted to hire the best player available?
3 Comments:
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I came across your blog from Allan Alfonso's blog. You have some very great insight into the Canucks organization. Keep up the excellent posts.
Thank you very much. :)
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