Canes Recall Brett Carson from Charlotte

In a move anticipated in comments from Coach Paul Maurice this past week, the Carolina Hurricanes have recalled a seventh defenseman to join the team on their roadtrip out on the West Coast, simply as "injury insurance" for the remaining four games. We didn't know who would get the call until it was announced today:

Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has recalled defenseman Brett Carson from Charlotte of the American Hockey League (AHL).

Carson, 24, began the season with the Hurricanes, traveling with the team to the Compuware NHL Premiere in Helsinki, Finland. The Regina, Sask., native was a healthy extra for Carolina’s back-to-back set against the Minnesota Wild in Finland, before being assigned to Charlotte on Oct. 9. He has skated in three games with the Checkers, totaling two penalty minutes. Carson (6’4", 210 lbs.) has notched two goals and 10 assists (12 points) and 16 penalty minutes in 59 career NHL games, all with the Hurricanes.

over 1 year ago Carolyn Christians 16 comments 0 recs |

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Springing for the full-sized spare tire option

I’ll say one thing…it’s nice to have a 6’4" 210 pound RFA defenseman as a healthy scratch.

There have been a lot of seasons when the Canes had nowhere near this size on defense, even among those on the ice.

Here we are now...entertain us.

by Elsker on Oct 16, 2010 1:49 PM EDT reply actions

Agreed – though since you’re always on top of this sort of thing, Carson signed as an UFA in July after he wasn’t qualified.

I suspect you have a solid grasp on the following, Elsker, but for others reading along, while these contract nitty-gritties seem extra important in this season of the 30-man roster,

Carson requires waivers to get sent down to the AHL, and apparently none required for the recall. Sanguinetti is still waivers exempt coming and going.

Finally, Carson has a 2-way contract (so he makes $105k at the AHL level), unlike similarly sized Jay Harrison. Carson is not vulnerable to the “50% off” deal because of that dollar figure.

Twitter @HMof2

by Carolyn Christians on Oct 16, 2010 2:03 PM EDT up reply actions

As I understand things, you have all of that info exactly right.

And, here’s the relevant portion of the CBA [10.2 (a) (iv)] in which he gained Group 2 free agent rights…at least for the purposes of negotiating his current Standard Players Contract (SPC):

In the event a Prior Club fails to make a Qualifying Offer as set forth in this Section 10.2 and fails to elect salary arbitration pursuant to Section 12.3(a), the Player shall immediately become an Unrestricted Free Agent and shall be completely free to negotiate and sign an SPC with any Club, and any Club shall be completely free to negotiate and sign an SPC with any such Player, without penalty or restriction or being subject to any Right of First Refusal, Draft Choice Compensation, or any other compensation or equalization obligation of any kind.

So, when JR elected not to extend a Qualifying Offer (QO), reportedly to avoid a player option for arbitration, Carson became a Group 2 free agent. He just happened to then sign with the org that held his RFA rights.

However, what is not clear is that once the SPC for which the player gained Group 2 free agent status to negotiate expires, what then is the player’s status?

I see nothing that grants UFA status for life. Instead, I suspect that the age at which Carson signed his first pro contract plus the number of games played (<160) means that he is still defined as being a restricted free agent and that the rights holding club would have the option of making a QO and retaining his playing rights.

I will note that nhlnumbers.com has him listed as a RFA after this season.

But, in a variation of my grandmother teaching me long ago that paper would just lie there and let you write anything on it…well, so will webpages. :-D

Here we are now...entertain us.

by Elsker on Oct 16, 2010 3:18 PM EDT up reply actions

Now that you bring all this up, we may have had this, conversation before (?), but I can’t see how a player could revert to becoming a RFA once unrestricted. Seems counterintuitive. I’ll take the sentence “the Player shall immediately become an Unrestricted Free Agent and shall be completely free to negotiate and sign an SPC with any Club” as a permanent and irrevocable status.

I was thinking that the years and NHL games played numbers apply to the Waivers eligibility conversation, not the RFA status. But again, I’m hardly an expert and perhaps they are related an overlapping.

Twitter @HMof2

by Carolyn Christians on Oct 16, 2010 4:39 PM EDT up reply actions

I’m unclear on this as well, but could also see where the section of the CBA that made him a Group 2 free agent might also simply be deeming him an “Unrestricted Free Agent” for the purposes of negotiating his next SPC.

The clause quoted above appears in “10.2 (a) Group 2 Players and Free Agents”, which is within the larger “10.2 Restricted Free Agents”.

So, it could be describing a special class of RFA’s (for the purpose of your next SPC you are a Group 2 UFA, but then revert back to a RFA).

Or, it could be describing an “escape clause” from RFA status, granting UFA status in perpetuity.

Doesn’t say so, if so. But, then can’t really see where it says otherwise.

So, applying “lawyer logic”, I’m temporarily willing to believe that nhlnumbers.com has it right and if the CBA doesn’t say he’s exempt from what makes a player RFA (years of contract and games), then he is a RFA once his Group 2 UFA SPC expires.

Here we are now...entertain us.

by Elsker on Oct 16, 2010 5:09 PM EDT up reply actions

Might also add that this is all probably moot, since Carson’s probably not tradebait, so RFA vs. UFA status doesn’t matter in value determination for the asset.

Also, unlikely that JR will want to give Carson arbitration rights this summer either, so a QO is unlikely even if it is an option.

He’s likely to be a Group 2 UFA again, even if temporarily reverting back to RFA status.

Here we are now...entertain us.

by Elsker on Oct 16, 2010 5:29 PM EDT up reply actions

After some further study of how that section of the CBA is organized, I’m starting to come around to the position that Carson might be UFA permanently.

Looks like “Group 2” free agents are those that are unsigned, but have had Qualifying Offers extended. Unclear to me why they would be termed “free agents” at this point in time, but we had several listed in some circa July 2010 lists, such as Borer, Dodge, Peters, Pogge, and Blanchard.

Conversely, Carson is listed as “UFA” on those lists, along with Picard.

So, looks like maybe he is a UFA’er from here on out, which is exactly how JR would treat him anyway.

Here we are now...entertain us.

by Elsker on Oct 16, 2010 7:20 PM EDT up reply actions

Can we make a petition for Carson to play instead of Harrison? I’m sure we would get a lot of signatures.

by GoACanes87 on Oct 16, 2010 2:02 PM EDT reply actions

If Carson would just occasionally drop the gloves, he’s be a lock from management’s point of view I suspect. Harrison has that advantage on him, which may, in turn, be a clause in Gleason’s contract (eg the Team shall employ one other defenseman measuring over 6-3 and 200 lbs to provide Gleason with a reliable alternate for his duties as Director of Team anti-goonery-patrol. Abramsdoug probably can guess better than me at the exact wording.)

However, that’s not something every guy is comfortable going. No judgement, but that’s the only explanation I can come up with.

Twitter @HMof2

by Carolyn Christians on Oct 16, 2010 2:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Dropping the Gloves: Carson's Future

HMof2, you are right once again. Carson needs to get confidence to drop the gloves as needed and he will take over Harrison’s spot on the top six on defense. Gleason tries to destroy anybody who dares fight with him; and one would hope Gleason would have a heart to heart with Carson on the subject of grit and sand paper. Carson is a much, much better defenseman than Harrison as far as I am concerned; but I give Harrison high marks for being willing to take a beating to stand up for a teammate. Carson’s future rests in his hands, literally. He has to drop the gloves to earn a permanent spot in the top six because all the fighting can’t rest on Gleason’s and Kostopoulos’ shoulders.

by abramsdoug on Oct 16, 2010 3:05 PM EDT up reply actions

Whose roster spot is Carson taking?

by pancanbra on Oct 16, 2010 2:20 PM EDT reply actions

While we can always hope, he’s not necessarily taking anyone’s specific spot on the roster. JR said earlier in the week he’d probably call up an extra defenseman as insurance for the west coast road trip.

Phoblographer and Finn Aficionado
SISU

by Jamie Kellner on Oct 16, 2010 3:01 PM EDT up reply actions