Teams suspected of tampering during free agency and “there are repercussions”

There was the league’s GM meetings on Tuesday, general managers were scolded and reminded of a very important rule that some might have omitted this summer. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly reminded GMS of the league’s tampering rules and shared with TSN’s Pierre LeBrun how some needs to be reminded of the penalties for tampering, including fines and the loss of draft picks. This is what LeBrun said in last night’s Insider Trading on TSN:

“I asked him “Well, why was it time?”, and he said the he was, quote, “a little uncomfortable” with some of the commentary that he saw in the media reporting heading into July 1 last year, and it gave him the impression that there had been negotiations before July 1.

"He just wanted to remind GMs that you can’t do that before July 1, and that there are repercussions, in terms of fines and or potential loss of draft picks, so we’ll see what impact that conversation from Bill Daly had ahead of next July 1.”

There were rumours of some teams or players engaging in talks with available players ahead of the official date as it is possible some teams agreed to contracts with free agents before free agency officially opened.

For example in Chicago, Tyler Bertuzzi signed with the Blackhawks, but revealed in his introductory interview how he was swayed to join the team by Nick Foligno, who then became the club’s captain.

“Chicago wasn’t really on my radar,” said Bertuzzi.“ The day before free agency, Nick Foligno called me and said that they (Chicago) were interested. I was obviously excited about that and things went on from there.”

“We just talked about the organization, the city, where to live, and things that are important to me and my family while obviously moving to a new city,” Bertuzzi added.

On top of Bertuzzi being suspected of signing a deal prior to the opening of the market, there are rumours that Brandon Montour, Tyler Toffoli, and Brett Pesce also reportedly signed contracts before free agency opened this summer.

Teams can’t talk to free agents before noon ET on July 1 unless given permission by the team that owns the player’s rights. An agent can also ask permission to speak to other teams on behalf of their player.