I bumped the scandal thread in case anyone wants to discuss the situation there and not have it intermingled with general hockey discussion.

I didn’t want to jump to conclusions at first, but I think it’s pretty obvious at the point who the 2018 WJC scandal guys are. 5 guys from that team requesting absences within like 2 days? It can’t be a coincidence, it just can’t be

But on another note, what does everyone think of the news about the Utah Jazz owner requesting the NHL expand to Utah? Personally I think they should just move the coyotes there already, enough of this 5000 seat arena crap lol

Frank Seravelli basically said that it is connected. There is a league mandated deadline of 1/31 for the Arizona Coyotes to have their future arena plans to the NHL (or something like that) and this is basically greasing the wheels in advance that it won't be feasible for the NHL to stay in Phoenix. Rather than having a multi-city bidding war to move the Coyotes, the NHL has already hand picked the relocation.

That makes a lot of sense, it just makes too much sense at this point. The only possible better fit was Houston

So on the the hockey side of the “indefinite leave of absence”… for roster purposes, it’s like those players are on IR…cap hits count, but team can use roster spot to replace. (No suspensions or anything yet). Does that sound right?

Chicago recent extensions make 0 sense rn

Why not try and trade guys like Mrazek, Dickinson, etc and then bring them back the following season

Like what Ari did with Bjugstand

Cause KD is just a bad GM. Trying to build his team through the draft with minimal draft stock I guess. They got Bedard, so I suppose they don't need to do a good job rebuilding. They can literally build their team through FA and they will be a playoff team once he's in his prime.

Chicago has a whack-slew of RFAs + UFAs coming...15!!

So maybe trying to get out in front of some of the "offseason" contract stuff/headaches?
Dickinson has 15G's so that's a keeper these days, only 2yr deal so it'll age well and no 'extras' so he can be moved if required.
Mrazek can at least be a vet-mentor (low grade I get it) and again only 2-yrs on the deal.

He's made 5 1st rnd picks and 5 2nd rnd picks in 2 years. Has 2 1sts and 3 2nds this year, and 2 1sts and 2 2nds the year after that. Idk how that's 'minimal draft stock'.

Why did the Flyers send Brink down

If you have guys that fit in well and are the type of guys that you are trying to build a culture around, why not just bite the bullet and resign them? At least as far as Dickenson is concerned.

Mrazek, I'd probably flip, BUT do you want to enter the off-season desperately needing a goalie as a rebuilding team when you already know several other teams who will be highly competitive will also be looking for goalies shuffling this summer? It's a gamble that you won't be left without a dance partner.

The fact Formenton is flying back to Canada right now makes it all but nearly concrete we know who the 5 “suspects” are now.

It is not concrete until the Canadian justice system puts it in ink.

The last thing these forums want or need is an onslaught of keyboard warriors clamouring to be the first to speculate on the players or the fallout.

It certainly gives us a good idea, however, Dube's leave of absence if for mental health reasons in the CGY statement, the other 4 are unexplained. Carter Hart also recently said in an interview that he learned why he's been sick so much throughout his career, so while there's a chance we know all 5 names, there's a chance that not all 5 leave's are related to each other

Keywords were nearly and suspects.

Any of the recent 5 could be innocent or bystanders - but occams razor is only being favoured more and more here..

No way they’d want to return after they were traded

Would your mother or father, agent or PR team allow you to put out identical statements to Formenton if you were 100% innocent?

Any of these 4 NHL guys can be and could be innocent in the eyes or the court - but it’s certainly a almost impossible choice to willingly put yourself out there at this time if you were just battling an injury or health.

Which is why we're trying to curtail any speculation - or conjecture if you want to be picky about your previous reply - until it's in official print.

Stating anything along the lines of "well it seems like this person, them, and that other fellow" doesn't add anything to the conversation about what needs to change in the culture right now. That's what's important for these boards right now. Fans will be quick to point out roster and cap implications but it's just noise. From the very onset the only important discussions we as fans should be having about this case or any other is how do we affect change in an environment that continuously allows things like this to happen?

Nobody will pay high for our players, we’ve already learned from Max Domi, nobody will pay stupidly high prices for players on **** teams

I can't see any other of the 31 NHL teams besides the half dozen that seem to be perpetually basement-bound of late to be remotely capable of offering either Dickenson or Mrazek half of what Chicago just signed them to. It's poor asset management regardless of what the justification is. Chicago, while already astronomically bad by professional sports standards, should have only one goal in mind: surround Bedard with the best talent they can acquire. Maybe the picks returned for Dickenson and Mrazek aren't the "best" players but they could have been moved to acquire such a player. The thought process in Chicago's management has been too linear.

To offer something more anecdotal, look at how much the Oilers suffered under Chiarelli by opting to not accumulate picks and prospects and instead leveraging those assets and their cash into plug-and-play players. Would the Edmonton Oilers have been better off having the likes of Chabot or Joel Eriksson-Ek in their lineup or Griffin Reinhart? What about doubling down on Mikko Koskinen? Milan Lucic? What happens when Bedard and Korchinski are making a combined $20M against the cap and there isn't a steady stream of quality ELC's coming down the pipeline to insulate the roster with cheap talent? The Edmonton Oilers - and even Toronto Maple Leafs - are almost a decade removed from drafting their generational talents and have not yet won Lord Stanley's prize for effectively these same reasons. Be warned.

A thing on YouTube scrolled by and it’s some theory that Sidney Crosby will become a leaf and it made me audibly deep sigh but then I thought about it.

Yeah that is what I think at the moment. I'm sure once official charges are filed; there is likely voiding of contracts (like Corey Perry in Chicago) and the teams will recoup cap space.

Unavailable due to reasons other than Injury or illness would likely put them as "non-roster".
Edit: They wouldn't count against the roster limit. (It appears cap limit still applies?)
You must return to compliance when re-activating those players.

I don’t know that the contracts will be voided. The illegal acts occurred during a different contract window. I’m unsure what language in the contract could be considered unmet - I’m doubting they have a “did you ever do anything bad” clause. At some point in real life we all experience buyer beware moments, no different for sports owners than you or I. The PA needs to protect its contracts anytime they’re ever involved in discipline or decision, even when it’s a real real crappy situation. Since there isn’t substantial precedent, they’ll have to sail down this river and find out where it goes together. Perrys won’t be voided either I don’t think. No way the PA will let a player have an alcohol related incident result in total contract void when the teams provide alcohol. At best Perry will force no arbitration, but the situation will be strongly considered non-prescedental if it doesn’t go to arb. I’m guessing it gets privately arbitrated and he gets like a quarter to half his expected pay. I don’t recall the timer for this to be resolved but it had a lot of time last I checked. If I were Perry’s team I’d be pushing for full payout, satisfied with half. If Chicago provided the alcohol then they can share in the result.

It's a fair point I guess but you're ignoring that KD has already made more 1st and 2nd round picks in 2 years than Chia had in his entire time as EDM's GM. And he already has enough 1sts and 2nds to double Chia's numbers in 2 more years