July 1st is officially behind us, but the actions of General Managers across The NHL are still being talked about over a week later. What actions am I referring to? Well, it’s no secret that The NHL has a tampering problem on its hands. And this year is just the latest example of how out of control things have gotten.
But before we dive into the nuts and bolts of the matter, please allow me to explain the situation.
The NHL calendar lists July 1st as the start of the new League Year. This date is one of the longest-running traditions in The League. And with the start of the new League year also comes the start of Free Agency. This year, Free Agency officially began at noon (ET) on July 1st. But the problem is, many Free Agent players were already signed to deals, or close to signed when the market officially opened at noon on The 1st.
How can that be? It’s not like The NHL has a legal tampering period. By contrast, The NFL, MLB, and The NBA have blocks of time built into their league calendars during which Free Agent negotiations can take place prior to the official start of Free Agency. This is known as The Legal Tampering Period. (At least, that’s what The NFL and MLB call it. The NBA has a slightly different name and rules for it). While the rules differ slightly from sport to sport, the concept is the same. However, The NHL does not allow this and yet, tampering still runs rampant.
So, in order to better understand the situation, we’ve called on Former GM and current “NHL Wraparound Podcast” Co-Host, Neil Smith to explain what he’s heard and how the process plays out.
“Well, obviously, there’s been some negotiating going on, in some way, shape or form, before noon on July 1st,” Smith explained. “How that is happening is anybody’s guess, because everyone has a different way of communicating with the player or the agent. The first thing that teams must figure out is, ‘Will the free agent come to our team?’ There are some teams that Free Agents don’t want to go to and they’re all different. So, you’ve gotta figure that out first. Then, after that, it’s, ‘How much is it gonna cost us to sign this guy?’ Well, there’s only one place you can find that out and that’s from the agent. Now, I don’t think any General Manager would be foolish enough to call an agent directly and ask them while it would be deemed tampering. So, you’d have to get that information in a different way. And who knows who uses who to find that out.”
Wait, do you mean to tell me that NHL GMs are basically impersonating 007 himself in order to get Free Agents signed? I wasn’t aware James Bond was in the business of teaching his tricks of the trade to other people.
“I don’t think it’s that indirect,” Smith said. “Somebody could be speaking to the agency. An agency means there’s more than just one guy. So you could have somebody who’s really not in the management of the team talking to somebody who’s not the agent for the player, but each side is getting their information from the key guy. That’s how you go about it. You know what they’re gonna want and for how long and if they want to come to your team. That’s the biggest thing. First of all, the player’s gotta want to play for ‘Team X.’ Then, if he wants to play in ‘City X,’ what’s it gonna take? Then they tell you and then you decide whether you can live with that and it goes from there. But again, it’s not as convoluted as a spy novel.”
I don’t know. I’m of the belief that the late Sir Sean Connery is looking down from above, wondering how his secret spy playbook fell into the hands of NHL GMs.
But that leads me to another question, was this always the way things were done or is NHL Free Agent tampering a more recent phenomenon?
“I gotta tell you,” Smith began. “Back in my day, we really didn’t get around it. You knew who the Free Agents were coming up and you got a hold of the agent. The most I can remember ever doing is making sure the agent knew that I had an interest in their player. But I never negotiated anything or signed anything. But again, for example, if you thought Theo Fleury — this was in my last year in New York — had no interest in going to New York, well, you wouldn’t waste your time talking to his agent. You’d move on to somebody else. But once you know they do have an interest in going there, then it’s a matter of, as I said, what they want and how long.”
“But there wasn’t the competition for Free Agents back then like there is today,” Smith continued. Signing Free Agents in the Summer is as big a part of The League as trades or The Draft. It has become, that everybody has to do it to compete within The League. It wasn’t always like that. Back in the ’90s, not every team would sign Free Agents. Now, it’s much more mainstream. So the competition is a lot stronger.”
Interesting…so this “problem,” was essentially born out of The NHL’s desire to create parity. I don’t think Commissioner Gary Bettman saw that coming when he and The owners pushed for a more competitive balance. But is there a way to fix the tampering issue?
“They’ve gotta get a bigger window there,” Smith said. “Push back July 1st to say July 10th or make sure the playoffs end before late June so that everybody has an equal playing field. Right now, it’s just not fair to the two teams in The Final.”
That’s one way to go about things. But what about doing what The NFL does? What if The NHL implemented actual punishments for teams found guilty of tampering?
“When you have Free Agents being such a big part of building a team, you’re gonna get tampering no matter what,” Smith explained. “You’re gonna get it once the team’s season ends. They’re gonna do that. I don’t think they tamper during the regular season. But when the regular season’s over and 16 teams are done and then after the first round, another eight teams are done, what are they focusing on? They’re focusing on who we’re gonna lose and who we can sign. They’re not gonna wait for somebody else to beat them to the punch. That’s just the reality of the situation now with this much Free Agency.
“If you make the penalty substantive and they’re harsh enough, then maybe. I mean, if you’re talking about possibly losing draft picks, you’re not gonna mess around with that; if that’s the penalty. I think, right now, what’s happened in the NHL is that so many teams are doing it and literally everybody needs Free Agents, that nobody wants to blow the whistle on the other guy because then somebody will blow the whistle on them. But I think it would cut down on things (if teams were docked draft picks).
“But here, again, how many GMs are really complaining about this issue? If there are not enough people complaining about it, then obviously it’s not that much of a hindrance. It would take a team kicking up a stink about it in order for The League to get involved. But there’s no doubt that harsher penalties would certainly discourage you from tampering.”
Okay, so, The League doesn’t want tampering but isn’t willing to do something about it until a team complains. And no team is going to complain because they don’t want other teams to retaliate against them.
If that doesn’t make your head spin then I don’t know what will. So, for now, let’s do what NHL GMs usually do when competitive issues arise. We’ll put a pin in this and kick it down the road to a time when The NHL and its GMs might have more of a stomach for addressing the matter.
