ODB wrote:IDK, Just happy it’s not our Nucks. How can Poile survive this off season? Could he have fucked things up any worse?
I don't think that Poile screwed this up. I think this is the screwed up system the NHL has in place regarding players and free agency. You put time into a player, so you should be able to get something for the player. I don't think it's a fair system and this highlights why. Weber is RFA, he wants out of Nashville, Poile knows this and also knows that he needs to get something in return for Weber. The teams that are interested know that if Poile wants a fair return, which in this case means something like Schenn and Couturier, well all the rival GM's have to do is say fuck you and sign Weber to an offer sheet that screws Poile over and forces his hand. Match or lose the player. There's no negotiation, no real hockey moves made, just cut-throat business where the deep pocket team comes in and walks all over the team that has fought to get into a place where they are a top 4 team in their conference. It places teams on an unequal footing, and the whole point of the salary cap world was to level the playing field. That kinda backfired in cases like this.
So while Poile is screwed, I don't think he screwed up. He can't just give Weber away for nothing. His job is to ice a competitive team, if he's losing the best player on his team, then he needs to get something in return for that guy, and it needs to be a worthwhile return. If another team can simply take Weber away from him in exchange for what will likely be some mediocre 1st round picks when you consider the team that Weber is going to and where that team will likely finish in the standings.
The change that needs to be made is not to make players ineligable for UFA status for 10 years, but to simply do away with the RFA crap. This way if a player doesn't like where he is playing, if he doesn't want to stay, then he simply signs a contract that takes him to his UFA year and the GM knows that he had better move the player.....and if the GM is worth his paycheque then he will try and move the player before he enters the last year of his contract.
This is a bit of a rant, but I just hate this RFA offer sheet crap.