Interim GM Shawn Horcoff must race against the new CBA deadline to secure a long-term extension for star defenseman Simon Edvinsson before crucial contract advantages vanish forever.
On Tuesday, the Detroit Red Wings found themselves at the center of two major storylines colliding at once with a major front office shake up that put assistant general manager Shawn Horcoff in the interim GM chair, and the arrival of the NHL's new collective bargaining agreement, which is set to fundamentally reshape how contracts get done across the league.
Detroit confirmed Horcoff will step in as interim general manager while also taking on general manager duties for the Grand Rapids Griffins, the club's AHL affiliate, putting him in position to navigate one of the more consequential moments in recent CBA history right out of the gate.
The timing of the move seemingly brings Horcoff in just ahead of Tuesday's midnight deadline when the NHL's new collective bargaining agreement officially kicks in, bringing with it several significant changes to how contracts can be structured.
The rush of eight year contracts signed across the NHL over the past several days wasn't a coincidence. Teams and players alike were racing to beat the clock before the new rules took hold, since starting Tuesday, the maximum contract length shrinks to seven years for a player re-signing with his own team, and six years for a player signing elsewhere as a free agent.
The new agreement doesn't stop there as clubs will also lose the ability to defer salary on new contracts, and the practice of front loading deals, paying a player heavily in the early years to soften the cap hit later, will face much tighter restrictions. Together, those changes eliminate two of the more common tools teams have leaned on to manage the cap creatively.
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So if Detroit wants to use the current rules to its advantage in getting an Edvinsson extension done, whether that means tacking on an eighth year or structuring the deal with deferred or front loaded money, the window is closing fast, and the price tag isn't getting any cheaper while they wait.
Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported on the FAN Hockey Show on Monday, that he had heard earlier in the summer a bridge deal was on the table for Edvinsson, however with the recent mega signings around the league, the price point in that once negotiated deal may have jumped significantly.
The market for young defensemen shifted dramatically when the Vancouver Canucks signed 20-year-old Zeev Buium to an eight year, $75.04 million extension carrying a $9.38 million annual cap hit. With Edvinsson holding a stronger NHL track record than Buium at a similar stage of his career, it's fair to expect Detroit's young blueliner could command a deal in a similar range, and possibly a cap hit well into eight figures.
Now with Horcoff finally sitting in the GM chair and Edvinsson being vocal that he has been waiting for the situation to settle itself and is interested in returning to the Red Wings, there is a chance the bargaining between the two parties can begin as early as right now, with Horcoff likely looking to make his stamp on the interim GM job a meaningful one by getting a much needed piece of business done before a pivotal deadline.
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