Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Topics Of Discussion At Today's GM Meetings

11/15/2016 at 5:53pm EST

from the CP at Sportsnet,

When Maple Leafs centre Nazem Kadri clocked Canucks winger Daniel Sedin from the blindside on Nov. 5 he inadvertently reignited a debate about blindside hits in the National Hockey League.

The topic came up at Tuesday’s GM meetings in Toronto and was deemed worthy of further consideration for the next gathering in March.

“There’s an element in this game, a physical element, that has to stay,” said Edmonton Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli. “You also have to respect your opponent.”

“There’s lot of passion on both sides of the coin when it comes to hitting and making sure that it is still an integral part of the game because nobody wants to see that lost,” Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff added. “Now, certainly the mindset is players’ safety first. The hard part, and I feel for Player Safety (department), they have to rule by the letter of the rule.”

continued plus more topics were touched on...

added 6:04pm, from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,

Pending free agents remain the biggest concern when it comes expansion after the GMs meetings on Tuesday.

The Las Vegas expansion team and some of the 30 existing teams are worried about less-than-honest agreements circumventing the expansion-draft rules.

What, GMs looking for loopholes? Come on.

Specifically, GMs worry that Vegas could take advantage of the 48-hour window before the expansion draft in June to quietly agree to terms on a deal with a pending unrestricted free agent, but wait until July 1 to sign him, so as to be able to pluck another player off that team's roster in the expansion draft. This would circumvent the rules that stipulate that if a team loses a free agent to Vegas in that 48-hour free-agent-signing window, they can no longer lose another player in the expansion draft. So some GMs worry that veteran GM George McPhee, who wasn't born yesterday, would take advantage of the situation.

continued

added 6:11pm,

Create an Account

In order to leave a comment, please create an account.

About Kukla's Korner Hockey

Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

Email Paul anytime at [email protected]

Most Recent Posts

Most Recent Comments

Comment by bezukov in Abel to Yzerman from the entry Seider's Year - 4 minutes ago
Comment by Paul in Abel to Yzerman from the entry Seider's Year - 8 minutes ago
Comment by bezukov in Abel to Yzerman from the entry Seider's Year - 10 minutes ago
Comment by Paul in Abel to Yzerman from the entry Seider's Year - 13 minutes ago
Comment by TreKronor in Abel to Yzerman from the entry Mistakes Magnified - 45 minutes ago