Blake Wheeler reject offer

[The Comish]

lockedge wrote:

You have to opt into the draft initially, if it\'s your first year in the draft, and you can opt out any year after you\'ve opted in. It was Blake\'s choice to put himself into the draft and make that kind of commitment.

Is there anywhere I can read up on this? I\'ve never heard of NHL players being able to opt in or out of a draft. NFL & NBA players yes, but not hockey players.

I always thought that you became draft eligible based on your age only and couldn\'t opt out.

I normally pay attention to these kinds of things and I thought I would have heard about a player opting in or out of a draft. Interesting if accurate.

[lockedge]

The Comish wrote:

lockedge wrote:

You have to opt into the draft initially, if it\'s your first year in the draft, and you can opt out any year after you\'ve opted in. It was Blake\'s choice to put himself into the draft and make that kind of commitment.

Is there anywhere I can read up on this? I\'ve never heard of NHL players being able to opt in or out of a draft. NFL & NBA players yes, but not hockey players.

I always thought that you became draft eligible based on your age only and couldn\'t opt out.

I normally pay attention to these kinds of things and I thought I would have heard about a player opting in or out of a draft. Interesting if accurate.

http://www.hockeysfuture.com/draft_faq_1/

Some players opt out of the draft because they\'re having a bad year or one shortened by injury or something. it\'s not all that common, but I\'ve known it to happen before.
Al Montoya and David Booth did, I believe.

[ultrawhiteness]

this has been an interesting thread. i will add another response eventually, since there were lots of good points brought up and plenty that i have issue with or want to address. but i don\'t have time now. some damn good insights came out here though.

[The Comish]

Thanks for the link lockedge. Very helpful.

[fzusher]

lockedge and comish,

the referred page on hockeysfuture dates back to 2004 (i didn\'t notice that at first, but it clicked when they referred to nine rounds in the draft), that is, before the new CBA. Article 8 of the CBA, however, says nothing about opting in or out. Section 8.4, dealing with draft eligibility, says \"All players age 18 or older are eligible for claim in the entry draft\", and then lists 5 exceptions to this:

- players already on a club\'s reserve list (that is, already signed or drafted)
- players already drafted twice
- free agents who\'ve already played in the NHL
- undrafted players age 21+ who\'ve played one season in North America between the ages of 18-20
- undrafted players age 22+ (the hockeysfuture article is not up do date on this as well, stating Europeans are draft eligible at any age)

This suggests the \'opt-in\' requirement is no longer operative. Booth and Montoya were both drafted in 2004, before the new CBA and hence under the old rules.

[lockedge]

As was Wheeler. I figured the opt-in/opt-out would have carried over into the new CBA, though, but I guess it didn\'t. That\'s too bad, really. Takes away a choice for the young kids. Thanks for the update though, it\'s good to know.

If Wheeler wanted to play for Minny so much he could have opted out though, and waited through his College career to get things prepped. He went in the draft knowing any team could take him, and the least he could have done is notified the team of his intentions.

Maybe I\'m just bitter because at my former workplace, people would just quit and not give notice, leaving everyone else hanging and having to fill holes they shouldn\'t have to. It\'s a big piss-off for me. XD

[fzusher]

lockedge wrote:

As was Wheeler.

True.

[bwhee]

Haven\'t seen any \"Wheeler to Minnesota\" deals yet. We\'ll see how much water that holds, and whether not the kid can put up numbers worthy of all of this discussion anyway.

Since we\'re quoting the great poet Zimmerman, I thought I\'d submit one more...this from Gretzky\'s perspective, if I may.

...goodbye\'s too good a word
So I\'ll just say fare thee well
I ain\'t sayin\' you treated me unkind
You could have done better but I don\'t mind
You just kinda wasted my precious time
But don\'t think twice, it\'s all right

[mapletreemarty]

The Comish wrote:

I don\'t buy the argument that a player owes the team that drafted him anything. It\'s not like the player can opt out of the draft. Wheeler was drafted by Phoenix like it or not.

Wow great arguements everyone... definately plenty to read and sieve through.

The only thing I just wanted to touch upon, is being a top 5 pick I\'m fairly certain Coyotes management would have interviewed him extensively, and if Wheeler knew right away that he didn\'t want to play in Phx he should have said something. So, in defending the organization I\'m pretty sure that they did their homework.

That being said, this definately seems more of a recent development. Could he have said something sooner to management to move his rights?? Perhaps, but we\'ll never know what really happened.

If you are being interviewed for a specific position, you always state your intentions. I have job interviews for positions with multiple locations sometimes across Ontario, and sometimes across Canada. By the end of the interview if I don\'t want to or plan on moving across the country for work, I will state my preference of where I would like to fill a position within the company. It\'s called being a mature and responsible adult, there\'s no reason to string people along.

Anyways, here\'s hoping Wheeler\'s fantasy value doesn\'t get overly damaged unless he goes to a defensive hotbed like Minny :P

[fzusher]

fzusher wrote:

The more I think of this, the more I realize that, if he does get to sign with the team where he wants to live, this was in fact a very smart and mature life decision.

Well, dear young Blake just made me eat these words. Still I\'m not entirely averse to his decision, though - a person who\'s got a chance to take control over their life should be perfectly legitimized in doing it, even if he then wastes that opportunity away :blink:

[mapletreemarty]

He\'s going to broadway chasing after Elisha Cuthbert :P Perhaps he missed the memo she\'s out west with Dion now hahaha

[Crazynuck]

mapletreemarty wrote:

He\'s going to broadway chasing after Elisha Cuthbert :P Perhaps he missed the memo she\'s out west with Dion now hahaha

:laugh:
watch him sign in Calgary

[notubble]

that was ALOT to read through, but i appreciate it. well thought out opinion/response to things like this, it is interesting to see how people view this unusual situation from different angles.

For the record, i wouldnt mind the rangers taking a chance on this guy. Hes big and we need big (dawes, callahan, sjostrom, betts, avery(for the time being)...all small)