Should the NHL Move Back the Start of Free Agency?

Time To Uncutter the NHL Off-season Schedule

Jim Biringer of NHLRumors.com and Full Press Hockey was joined by Bob Duff of Detroit Hockey Now on a recent Full Press NHL Podcast and asked him if the NHL should move the start of Free Agency to not have this lull in the offseason.

NHLRumors.com Transcriptions

Jim Biringer: “I got a quick question before we dive in to the Detroit Red Wings and talk about their offseason and last year. I brought this up during free agency, and I’ve kind of been starting to get some momentum, or some people I’ve talked to about this, pushing the start of free agency back past the Canadian and US holidays, maybe August 1 we should start doing free agency.”

Bob Duff: “Well, I’m all for getting it away from July 1 being a Canadian. I’ve never been able to celebrate Canada Day my whole career, so it’d be nice, you know, when all my friends are going off and having parties and fireworks, and I’m just logging in on a phone and a computer all day, trying to see what the latest move is.

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Biringer: “Yeah, no, I totally understand that. I mean, usually it dies down before the July 4th holiday. But even still, I think if we move it away, maybe we don’t get this lull in the offseason that we’ve seen to have gotten since the second week of July.”

Duff: “And I think they tried for a couple of years, I think it was where they actually gave the teams a window where they could talk to players before the signing period opened. And I don’t know, maybe if you give them the first two weeks of July, even to just kind of talk to have both sides get to talk and see what’s out there. And then on the 15th, say, you start the signing period. And I just think, to me, that would be a better system where you as a player, you could kind of gauge what’s out there for you. And you don’t know, I have to jump on this offer right away, because it might not be there tomorrow.

And as a team, if you lose this guy, at least this guy’s interested. A better gauge on what you can and can’t do. And I think that would help a lot of teams, and probably make life a little less stressful for the players that are dealing with free agency, because I’ve talked to even big name players who go through this, and they say, that even if it’s only a few hours, a few hours where you don’t have a job, is very stressful.”

Biringer: “No, I can imagine that. And the fact of the matter is, we all know everybody talks, but to actually have, like, a winter meetings or summer meetings or a summer talking period would definitely solve some of these problems that we have right now.”

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Duff: “I would get it away from the draft. I mean, they’re just banging into each other now. Like, you kind of need that decompression period after the draft before you have to jump. Like it’s just so insane. You go from the draft to free agency to the development camp. Like the last two years, development camps been going on while free agency has been starting, and it just seems like you should be doing whatever you can to keep your sport in the news. So, to have it all going on at once. It’s just counterproductive.”

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