Morgan Rielly can finally move out of his Toronto hotel after having sampled every single item on the room service menu during a stay that began in early September. The same applies to Olli Maatta in Pittsburgh. And for Sean Monahan, the time has come to leave teammate Jiri Hudler’s home to live with a billet family in Calgary.
However, even with all three prospects officially triggering the first year of their NHL contracts by playing a 10th game this week, they shouldn’t get too comfortable in their new surroundings just yet. In fact, there’s a pretty good case to be made that the real tryout is only beginning now.
As GMs have come to better understand how to build a team in the NHL’s salary cap system, they’ve started to focus more on the deadline for when a prospect is credited with an accrued season—which effects eligibility for unrestricted free agency—rather than the one where his contract kicks in.
Under NHL rules, a player is credited with a year of service after spending 40 games on a team’s active roster (something that happens whether he’s playing or scratched for that amount), even though the first year of his entry-level deal officially gets burned after he dresses for just 10.
Essentially, all the Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames and Pittsburgh Penguins have done in recent days by keeping Rielly, Monahan and Maatta around is buy themselves about two more months before they’re forced to make a more important decision on the future of those rookies. When that time comes, they should be better equipped to make it.
Each of the players has shown that he is capable of handling the jump to the NHL for a span of a couple weeks, but there is obviously no guarantee that will continue. In addition to getting a longer period of time to monitor and evaluate progress, the teams will also have extra access to the players for strength, conditioning and skills work.
It is all part of an evolution in the way NHL teams develop prospects and manage the salary cap.
While there is some inherent danger in allowing the first year of a player’s contract to go to waste during a season where he is sent back to junior—something that remains a possibility for Rielly, Maatta and Monahan—it is reasonable to assume that he would be less likely to hit a home run with his second NHL contract if that happened.
The accrued season is more of a pressing concern for teams because it moves a player one year closer to becoming an unrestricted free agent. That happens after seven accrued seasons or at age 27.
Each of the prospects could also still be assigned to their national team program and compete in the upcoming world junior tournament in Sweden. That event begins Dec. 26—just days before Maatta, Rielly and Monahan would hit the 40 NHL-games mark—and could be the first stop before a return trip to the Canadian Hockey League. If any were to be sent back, they would be unable to return to the NHL on a full-time basis until after the season wraps up for their junior team. Transfer rules dictate that teenagers can’t be assigned straight to the American Hockey League.
All that said, this is an understandably happy time for the prospects who made it past the 10-game hurdle and can start to settle into NHL life a little bit more.
Rielly, for one, will enjoy not being asked about his future on a daily basis by reporters. “I’ve just been answering with all of the clichés I can,” he says. “It’s been OK. I’m pretty happy it’s all over with and I don’t have to answer any more questions about it probably until Christmas.”
Only then will we truly know who is sticking around for the long haul.
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Here is a look at the earliest point where each prospect can be credited with his 40th game on a NHL roster this season:
Rielly (Maple Leafs) – Dec . 27 vs. Buffalo.
Maatta (Penguins) – Dec. 27 at Carolina.
Monahan (Flames) – Dec. 31 vs. Philadelphia.