Getting to Know the CBA

Salary Cap Recapture and Buyouts

Yesterday, we covered the remaining salary cap recapture for the three Red Wings contracts which are eligible for such punitive measures in the event of an early retirement. Today I want to cover the bases on how the CBA saw to it that GMs couldn't just buy themselves out of

Red Wings Cap Recapture Penalties: Zetterberg, Kronwall, and Franzen's Cap Recapture Formula

When the 2012 lockout murdered half a season of hockey (and stole from us even more games from Pavel Datsyuk's career), one of the big changes that the NHL and NHLPA fought over was a way to set maximum contract term limits and also fix a loophole in the previous

Getting to Know the CBA: Paying Players to Not Play

Due to persistent rumors this summer about the Red Wings potentially bringing Dan Cleary back despite Ken Holland having told him he isn't going to actually make the roster, I've noticed a lot of talk around the internet about the possibility of the Red Wings honoring the (both alleged and

Anthony Mantha Probably Won't Play More Than 9 NHL Games in 2014-2015

Did your heart drop reading the headline? I'm sure most of you think "they would be pretty stupid to not bring the kid who scored over 100 goals in two QMJHL seasons to start in the NHL." Or would they? Thanks to the CBA structuring, and Anthony Mantha's age, Big

Getting to Know the CBA Episode 19: Articles 28-30

Last we dove into the contract between the NHL and NHLPA which dictates the entire relationship between the ownership and labor in our favorite sport, we got into Article 26, which makes it very clear that circumventing the CBA is a no-no. Today, we come to a group of very

Getting to Know the CBA Episode 18: Article 26

When we last did one of these, we got a two-fer, as we looked at articles 24 and 25. Today we're only going to go over one article and it's kind of an important one. Let's get started You can find the entire CBA here (PDF) Article 26: No Circumvention

Getting to Know the CBA - Episode 17: Articles 24 & 25 - International Hockey, Endorsements, Sponsorships, Licensing

Editor's Note - Now that the season has started, these will be a little more sporadic. I'm going to try to do one per week still, but they'll work around the Wings' schedule Last time out, we looked at insurance coverages. In this episode, we'll cover two articles, as they're

Getting to Know the CBA - Episode 16: Article 23 - Insurance Coverages

After last week's relatively short episode on the Competition Committee, we've got another article that only goes over a few pages. This time, we'll take a look at the insurance coverages extended to the players by agreement of the NHL and NHLPA. You can find the entire CBA here (PDF)

Getting to Know the CBA - Episode 15: Article 22 - Competition Committee

Short article this week. It's a marathon, not a sprint. You can find the entire CBA here (PDF) Article 22: Competition Committee You might not believe this from all the bickering about money that was going on this time last year, but the league and the NHLPA have a vested

Getting to Know the CBA - Episode 13: Articles 19 & 20: Per Diem Allowance, Expense Reimbursement, & Game Tickets

Two articles taking up a total of three pages make up a relatively short week for Getting to Know the CBA this time around. You can find the entire CBA here (PDF) Article 19: Per Diem Allowance; Expense Reimbursement We've covered who gets the Per Diem allowance in our posts

Getting to Know the CBA - Episode 12: Articles 18 & 18-A: Supplementary Discipline for On-Ice Conduct & Commissioner Discipline for Off-Ice Conduct

Two articles in one today, as we dig into the NHL's supplementary discipline policy. Let's rock. You can find the entire CBA here (PDF) Article 18: Supplementary Discipline for On-Ice Conduct While teams have the authority to suspend players for a range of reasons, they're not going to be trusted

Getting to Know the CBA - Episode 11: Article 17 - Grievances, Arbitration, Impartial Arbitrator

If you've read every episode of Getting to Know the CBA so far, congratulations, you've covered 129 PDF pages and 109 printed pages of the 540/517 page document. It's not a short process, which is why we're taking it slowly. This week, we roll into Article 17. This one

Getting to Know the CBA - Episode 10: Article 16 - Schedules, Rosters, Reserve Lists, Practice Sessions

As our Getting to Know the CBA series rolls on, we find ourselves in Article 16. We've got eight pages and 15 subsections in this article to cover the four topics. I'm going back to the section-by-section breakdown for this one because it covers a few different topics easier. You

Getting to Know the CBA - Episode 9: Article 15 & Training Camps

Last week we covered transfer payments in the NHL CBA, which lays out how a player can be compensated for expenses he incurs while being moved between cities. Today we'll go over the part of the CBA which covers how teams can go about holding their annual training camps as

Getting to Know the CBA - Episode 8: Article 14 & Transfer Payments

Last week we covered waiver procedures in the NHL CBA to clarify how, when, and why a player could be sent to the minors or bought out/eliminated from a roster. This week, we transition nicely into the next article, which tells us the procedures and rules regarding what players

Getting to Know the CBA - Episode 7: Waivers

Continuing on our eventually-but-not-for-a-long-time ending quest to get through the NHL's CBA, we jump back up to the meat of the document itself and re-establish the article-by-article order. We've covered the draft, free agency, SPCs, and arbitration. Now we head into the waivers process and the rules regarding loans to

NHL CBA Quirk Theater Entry-Level Deals and Arbitration

For a select few players, there's a gap between when they can become an RFA and when they can use arbitration to leverage a fairer deal. This is no accident.

Getting to Know the CBA - Episode 5: Arbitration

I was all set to skip down to exploring Exhibit 1 and the Standard Player's Contract and then Brendan Smith happened. We'll get down to that part later, but seeing as how it's timely, let's go ahead and move forward to Article 12 in our weekly series on the CBA

Getting to Know the CBA - Episode 6: The Standard Player's Contract

This time, we're going to jump a bit down the CBA to cover the contract that we just finished covering the rules for. Article 11 lays out the rules for the Standard Player's Contract, giving the NHL the authority and guidelines to have all player contracts standardized across the board.

NHL Free Agency 2013: Daniel Alfredsson and the Over-35 Bonus Cushion

We might be coming back here a lot over the course of the season.

Getting to Know the CBA - Episode 4, Part 2: Standard Player Contracts (Continued)

When we last left off, we were trucking through Article 11 relating to Rules and Procedures Governing Standard Player's Contracts. We got all the way through 11.13 on the rules which govern how contracts between players and teams work. We covered minimum salaries and the clause which explains why

Getting to Know the CBA - Episode 4, Part 1: Standard Player Contracts

Thanks to the incredible Stevie Roxelle for the new banner logo for GtKtCBA

Getting to Know the CBA - Episode 3: Free Agency

So far we've been through the introductory stuff that defines why a CBA is a CBA and through the draft & entry level contracts. You can find the entire CBA here (PDF) Article 10 - Free Agency There are six "Groups" of players defined in the CBA, but each of those

Getting to Know the CBA - Episode 2: The Draft & Entry-Level Deals

Last week, we went through the first seven articles of the NHL CBA, laying out the groundwork for the agreement by which the NHL runs. This week, we continue our series on getting to know the NHL's CBA by taking a look at Article 8, which covers the Entry Draft

Getting to Know the CBA - Episode 1: Preamble - Article 7

In this series, we'll go through every part of the new NHL CBA and explore how it works, trying to simplify it down from lawyer speak, hopefully without losing too much in the translation.