It should come as no surprise to ardent fans of the NHL that the league is going to be doing away with the compensation policy in place for fired coaches and executives still under contract by a team.
Word from day two of the Board of Governors meetings, the NHL intends on eliminating compensation for execs/coaches. No surprise.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) December 8, 2015
Courtesy of NHL.com’s Dan Rosen:
“The original policy was put into effect Jan 1, 2015, in part to allow for compensation for coaches and executives under contract who departed for a position with another team. But it morphed to include coaches and executives that had been fired but remained under contract.
Now the League will return to the previous policy, which requires teams to grant permission to its coaches and executives under contract to interview with other teams. If permission is granted and the coach or executive changes teams, there will no longer be any compensation to the team losing personnel.”
The policy has been an unmitigated mess for the league. The Toronto Maple Leafs will be paying dearly because of the policy as they will be giving the Detroit Red Wings and New Jersey Devils third round picks at some point over the course of the next three years as they added Mike Babcock and Lou Lamoriello. If anyone knows how to get around paying this compensation though, it would be Loophole Lou.
Oddly enough, the compensation changes in season as well. The Blue Jackets, who hired John Tortorella on October 21st this year, will have to pay a second rounder to the Canucks because of when they hired the fiery coach. Not sure how the league came to this conclusion as Tortorella was fired at the end of the 13-14 season but alas it looks like for now the compensation will still be paid.
The policy though did have some supporters, Brian Burke was chief among them but after Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly made his plea he changed his tune.
One again from NHL.com’s piece:
“”What we were trying to do was provide an orderly way for young management people or coaches to be allowed to progress and move up the ladder, but a team that had skill at identifying young people would be compensated for it,” Burke said. “It was never envisioned it would apply to terminated employees. The League applied it in that manner and they presented today, I think, some compelling ideas for eliminating it and they eliminated it.”
Burke’s viewpoint is interesting but nonetheless shouldn’t have held water in the first place. It is almost a form of restriction for successful individuals. The Blue Jackets had an awesome tweet to some up most of the league’s feelings.
@NHL oh
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) December 8, 2015
This update may be fueled by the NHLPA.
NHLPA played a role in the decision to kill the compensation policy. PA filed a grievance in the summer.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) December 8, 2015
The PA believes the original adoption of compensation needed their approval. Also use of draft picks impacts players…offer sheets, etc.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) December 8, 2015
