The conspiracy theory, some like to bring it out when the opportunity it is lends itself to it not.
Is the NHL lottery rigged? Did teams know how the draft was going to go to trade first-round picks hours, days or weeks before the draft?
This always creates discussions where no one wants to change their mind.
But if the examples listed above are not based on concrete facts, here is one element that is: free agents no longer wait until July 1st to “discover” which clubs are interested in signing them.
Even if the NHL removed the few days that gave free agents the right to talk to other teams before July 1, it doesn’t change much in the end. For what? Because people talk to each other.
An agent who chats to a CEO can easily slip a word in about someone without it being difficult.
This means that at the moment, everyone is talking to each other. And according to what Darren Dreger said on Friday (so 48 hours ago already), an NHL executive told him he believes that 75 to 90% of the July 1 deals are already decided.
It’s a high percentage, let’s be honest.
Add to that the fact that one GM says that “if the NHL implemented its raiding rules, there would be no draft picks left in 2025” and we have further proof that it’s true: the leaders know how July 1 is going to play out.
How did Elliotte Friedman know, hours after Chris Tanev saw his rights traded to the Maple Leafs and his agent said he hadn’t spoken to Toronto officials yet, that the defenseman was signing a six-year contract?
Obviously, this is not a surprise. Remember that in 2021, we knew days in advance that Mike Hoffman, David Savard and company were going to land at the Canadiens.
Those who were plugged in in the summer of 2012 knew in advance where one of the guys from La Poche Bleue was going, to give one example among many others. Because there are quite a few examples of this kind.
We will see tomorrow what happens… but we must note that the Canadian, again this year, is not at the heart of the rumors. However, with everyone on cloud nine about Ivan Demidov, we forget about free agents and the lack of a deal involving a defenseman in the draft.
A lot of
– Good listening.
– He didn’t see the rumors coming.
– A machine.
– Rappel : Jesse Ylönen n’en aura pas.
