GM Meetings In Toronto; Vegas Still Not Invited

Here we go again. Two months ago, NHL owners met for another round of the Board of Governors and their newest colleague, The Creator, was not invited. The reason given was because the final payments had yet to be made, so he was not technically an owner yet.

Well, they’ve finally put a name on this ridiculousness calling it, “franchise rights” and now it’s affecting GM George McPhee.

Noticeably absent from the GMs meeting was Las Vegas GM George McPhee. The Vegas expansion team doesn’t yet have “franchise rights” until their transaction to enter the league officially closes, which is expected sometime in the spring. In other words, not until their final payment on that $500 million expansion fee is made. –Pierre LeBrun, ESPN

Earlier this month we heard from The Creator himself on Sportsbook Radio saying he’s planning on “accelerating the payment” which should come before the March GM meetings. But he also mentioned something else that really shouldn’t go unnoticed.

Once the final payment goes in then we can start accessing the un-drafted college players, and we need to be on that the same time as everybody else. -The Creator

Thank goodness we’ve been blessed with an owner that has the means to make these payments on time, and even early when he sees it necessary, but the point remains, this is an absolute joke.

It’s one thing to not let a rookie owner be a part of a meeting he probably wouldn’t have made much of an impact on. It’s another to keep out a 17-year veteran general manager from a meeting he should be at. But it’s completely ludicrous to think that if the payments were made as scheduled, the NHL would not allow the team the same access to players the other 30 teams have.

What happened to wanting to make the team competitive? What happened to helping the organization at every pass?

Guess that only counts when Bettman has his money.