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2017-18 Miscellaneous News Thread

That is a fair deal relative to where the market is today. Hanifin risks being underpaid near the end of that deal if he develops into a star and Calgary takes a risk that Hanifin ends up not being very good by going 6 years for pretty good money. Both sides with potential to win or lose.

I was going through the Leafs board the other day and they had linked a story in the Athletic that covered DMen and the average point in the opposition's 'top 6 forwards' shift when they came on the ice. The overall point of the story was that Mike Babcock and his assistant the runs that Leafs D make direct efforts to try to put his best Dmen out on average early in the oppositions 'Top 2 lines' shift and his weaker Dmen out later in the opposition's top 2 lines shifts when they are more likely to deal with weaker/tired players. So the Leafs don't completely shelter their weaker D fully against the other teams Top 2 lines when changes are made on the fly, BUT the numbers clearly indicate they make an effort to only put them out there on the fly near the end of the shifts for the top 2 lines (you have to see the charts to fully understand).

Why do we care?

Noah Hanifin was 13th in the NHL last season in terms of "Latest Average Point in Opposition's Top 6 Shift (over the boards on the fly change)" The number is just over 30 seconds into the opposition's top 2 lines shifts. That gives some indication that the Canes were sheltering Hanifin by only putting him over the boards near the end of the opposition's top 2 lines shifts.

And?

Guess who was 13th in the NHL last season in terms of EARLIEST Average Point in Opposition's Top 6 shift (over the boards on the fly change?)" Yeah, the Dman we got back in the trade....Dougie Hamilton at just over 20 seconds. Ron Hainsey was #1 in the league at around 19 seconds.

For those with a subscription, here is the article I'm referring to.
https://theathletic.com/468934/2018...en-while-playing-them-against-top-opposition/

Note the author (Tyler Dellow) does call out Hanifin and Hamilton's position in the analytics in the article (even though its really a story on the Leafs and how they manage their DMen).

Here are Tyler Dellow's quotes directly from the article I have linked above from the Athletic:

"Noah Hanifin’s presence is a bit unnerving, given that Calgary has already made a big talent bet on him and are presumably about to make a big dollar bet."

"Speaking of Calgary and prices paid in talent… Dougie Hamilton had great numbers last year and whatever angle I look at them from, he seems to have bought and paid for them."

We will have to see how things actually look with Hamilton out there, but while he's not physical out there which we still really lack on the blueline, the guy is one of the better Dmen in the league without a doubt. He's just turned 25 this past summer AND he is signed for 2 more seasons after this one. Pretty exciting stuff there. While we dumped Skinner for not a lot and traded 2 former relatively recent #5 overall picks, we added a guy who is a legitimate all star level DMan (not fake all star DMen like we have sent to the game recently) AND hopefully added an elite superstar forward in the draft with an upside exceeding that of even Aho.

Still work to be done but I'm excited to see this new look team back on the ice.
 
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The Hanifin deal seems like a 50/50 bet for each side. He currently plays like a #3/4 Dman and is such would be slightly overpaid. Calgary is hoping (just like Carolina hoped) that he becomes a legit top pairing guy and thus would be underpaid. Seems like the perfect bridge deal because at the end of the day, someone is going to be very unhappy in a couple years. My bet is on Calgary getting the raw end of this deal as think Hanifin has hit a plateau with mental lapses holding back his game. Physically he has all the tools and talent.
 
My guess ... Hanifin asked for substantially more than that from the Canes, who instead of trying to slog through hardball negotiations decided to ship him out. A long term deal just wasn't a risk our front office was willing to take while Hanifin flatly rejected a short term deal ... and I get that from both perspectives. Calgary got the benefit of negotiating with a kid who had already gotten his wakeup call and thus were able to whittle that contract down to 50/05 territory. Best GM work that chump has done all summer. It's risky, but not stupid.
 
Definitely a gamble contract. Could be a bargain, could be an albatross. Might need a year or two to decide.

The problem is, if you need 2 years to decide, he needs to outperform the contract over the last 3 to make it a win for Calgary. If the expectation is that he’s a $5 million player from the jump, they don’t have the luxury of waiting.
 
If he is to be believed, sounds like he is getting a raw deal.

https://www.nhl.com/news/statement-from-nate-schmidt/c-299924644

Tough tinkies. If the CBA has a zero tolerance clause, he’s SOL. If it doesn’t have an exception for “environmental” positives, that’s on the players for not negotiating it in the CBA. When the owners terminate the CBA in a few years, because that’s what they do, the players can negotiate it into the CBA.

The reason a zero tolerance exists in the CBA is because there is no telling when he ingested the banned substance. He could have been a week away from the substance being completely gone. But it probably wasn’t a microscopic quantity when it was ingested. Players are responsible for what they put in their body. Not the team, not the PA, them. “Accidental and unintentional” doesn’t hold water at WADA and the NHL is wise to follow the same process.
 
It was obviously a rival team or player who spiked his punch, and he would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for those meddling kids and their dog.
 
I think Steve Logan is great as an analyst, storyteller, etc. But I was in GreenVille for a few of his seasons and was never impressed with his coaching.
 
Tough tinkies. If the CBA has a zero tolerance clause, he’s SOL. If it doesn’t have an exception for “environmental” positives, that’s on the players for not negotiating it in the CBA. When the owners terminate the CBA in a few years, because that’s what they do, the players can negotiate it into the CBA.

The reason a zero tolerance exists in the CBA is because there is no telling when he ingested the banned substance. He could have been a week away from the substance being completely gone. But it probably wasn’t a microscopic quantity when it was ingested. Players are responsible for what they put in their body. Not the team, not the PA, them. “Accidental and unintentional” doesn’t hold water at WADA and the NHL is wise to follow the same process.

I agree the player should be responsible for what is placed in his body, but the current NHL testing policy is very flawed. It is now public that he violated the PED policy and he will be labeled a cheater. I guess blame that on the NHLPA for agreeing to the stupid policy, but there are so many critical questions left unanswered that should be made public. 1) When was the test? 2) What was detected? 3) What were the amount and potential benefits? 4) Where did the substance come from, such as the NHL team itself, which Schmidt maintains? Most of this information comes out for other professional leagues, why is the NHL/NHLPA so secretive?

On a whole the NHL drug testing policy is a joke. There have been what, about 4 suspensions in the past decade of testing? Does that pass the smell test? I doubt it, as I am sure there are more people using some type of PEDs across the NHL. The majority of tests seem to be easy to work around (preseason, regular, playoff testing) with only the random off-season test of 60 players being the only one that may catch someone. Is that when Schmidt was caught? Would sure make the case either for or against a lot clearer.

There is also the problem with WADA and the US Anti-Doping agency. I highly recommend the documentary Icarus (Academy Award Winner this past year) as it sheds a lot of light on issues with WADA and how easy it is to beat. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/icarus_2017

This is the policy the NHL and NHLPA have agreed to, and it should surprise no one that the lack of transparency leaves the league as a whole looking stupid as usual. There is some work to due during the next CBA for both sides.
 
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