Contract explanations/help?

[chibulls12]

Hey guys, so I am about to finish my first season as the Hawks, but I've been experimenting with the offseason part, which I want to get right. Unfortunately, I haven't been into hockey for that long, maybe a few years, and I have no knowledge of how contracts work, especially for younger players and draft picks, and to be honest, the game's explanations of the contracts still confused me. For example, with my restricted free agents, should I sign them to a new contract or tender their qualifying offer? I'm asking because say I want to resign Leddy and Kruger longtermish, if i make a new contract with them it's cheaper then tendering the qualifying offer? Is there any pro's to a qualifying offer, or is it just for players that you're on the fence about and want to see the market for them, so resigning prospects and players you want to keep is the better way to go? Lastly, with draft picks and the young players, I assume it's best to keep them as 'unsigned' until their ratings get better so they don't take up roster space for contributing players, and I have the rights to them until the 'unsigned' turns to 'UFA'? thanks for the help

[wolfsjetta12]

Re: Contract explanations/help?

For younger players, in the CHL their contracts should be able to slide. Meaning you have them signed but they don't count against the cap until there are in your minors. For Leddy and Kruger I would sign them to a contract and not tender them. I would only tender RFA if they are young players that you are not sure about. Minor league players or young fringe players you wanna see more of.

[Balrog]

Re: Contract explanations/help?

For younger players, in the CHL their contracts should be able to slide. Meaning you have them signed but they don't count against the cap until there are in your minors. For Leddy and Kruger I would sign them to a contract and not tender them. I would only tender RFA if they are young players that you are not sure about. Minor league players or young fringe players you wanna see more of.

How can you tell if a player is going to be in the CHL?

[MelBosco]

Re: Contract explanations/help?

The 'pros' to a qualifying offer are that you only need to qualify a player before free agency begins to retain his rights. Then teams must place an offer sheet to him if they want to sign him.

Then you are able to sign free agents, trade or whatever else you may need to do with your roster while your RFA's are safe. Then once you have done your business, you are able to see how much cap space you may have left, or what types of holes in your roster may need to be filled.

If you think you can sign a player for less than their qualifying offer, then for sure do it. If you would like to keep them in the RFA level, sign them to a 1,2 or 3 year deal (if they are coming off their Entry level contract) If you sign them for longer than that, they will be UFA when that contract expires.

Plus a qualified player is normally quite easy to trade if that is the route that you want to go. They normally have pretty decent value as an unsigned, but qualified player.

Lets say you have 3-5 RFA's up for qualifying, but only have 2-3 roster spots for them. Why let them walk in FA for nothing when you can just qualify them, then either hope/wait for another team to offer sheet them, or just trade them away for other assets.

Personally, if a player that is an RFA is 'demanding' too much money from me, sometimes I will let him hold out and miss out on a season. I know that it does not really achieve anything, but to keep a level of realism in the game I like to pretend that I am punishing and crushing this kids dream for being a greedy bastard.

[Tsuki]

Re: Contract explanations/help?

LOL Bosco I like your style...