Berglund on Waivers with Purpose to Terminate His Contract

[LGR4GM]

 

[WildCard]

1 minute ago, LGR4GM said:

This is like Christmas. We got a present in the form of 3.875mil in cap space. 

Per year over the next 4 years too for a guy that was gonna be 34 at the end of it. This is awesome for us

[Doohicksie]

5 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Still another shoe to drop?

The only source I've seen that says "mutual" is CapFriendly.  the Sabres tweet doesn't say that.  I can see several outcomes:

1. It is mutual and Bergie leaves quietly.

2. It's not mutual and Bergie/NHLPA fights it, resulting in a long, drawn out process.

3. In conjunction with 2, Bergie has a change of heart and negotiates a return to the team after realizing the Sabres aren't playing around and he's going to lose millions..

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 minute ago, erickompositör72 said:

 

Compare this to how JBott handled Moulson. He figured out a place where he had family and sent him there, probably after discussing.

Berglund situation seems there was no discussion, no consideration of the human element. Yes, the agent would have the most blame in this scenario, but the STL GM then would have only considered getting his prize (ROR) rather than treating a player humanely. If his agent single-handedly dropped the ball, Berglund would have been helpless in this situation.

Rather than the GM being humane ("hey, you really don't care about the nmc anymore?"), he just acted in an opportunistic manner -- nevermind the ramifications on an actual human being.

He did a very humane thing and sent him to a team that wanted and needed him.  Moulson had zero trade value.  Jbot wanted him gone and didn’t want him taking PT from the kids in Roch so he worked something out for Moulson.  He would have traded him if he had a taker.

[Doohicksie]

16 minutes ago, Sabel79 said:

He has to agree to terminate the contract.  Don't think there's a scenario where the team can unilaterally terminate a contract without league intervention, and that's a process.

 

15 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Contract Termination would need the players approval. Unless they are gearing for a fight with the NHLPA. 

Where does it say (besides CapFriendly) that Bergie has agreed to a termination?

[Andrew Amerk]

4 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

 

Where does it say (besides CapFriendly) that Bergie has agreed to a termination?

This writer has decided to roll with “mutual.”

https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/berglund-placed-unconditional-waivers

[GASabresIUFAN]

I research this on the net, Montreal has done this with Pleky, Streit, Addison; the NYI with Kovar and the Flames w Grossman.  In each case the announcement was similar to this one and the decision was mutual.  None have left this much money on the table.

The only similar money wise was Richards and that was for cause, and that got settled with the NHLPA.

I’m tending to think this one is mutual.

[dudacek]

Contract termination is not easy or it would happen more often. And we are talking about $12 million here.

Berglund either did something a lot more serious than missing a meeting, or he was willing to sacrifice millions to get out of Buffalo.

There is no way he is getting anywhere near that on a new deal.

[SwampD]

Does this change how we feel about who won the trade?

[LGR4GM]

1 minute ago, SwampD said:

Does this change how we feel about who won the trade?

Not until Tage or that first do something. 

[WildCard]

1 minute ago, SwampD said:

Does this change how we feel about who won the trade?

I mean Thompson still sucks

But the Blues suck too

Then again, Sobotka sucks

On the other hand, the Sabres are really good

But, O'Reilly is also really good

Though he may be a cancer too

So I'm gonna go with...maybe?

Edited December 19, 2018 by WildCard

[dudacek]

Depends how much value you thought Berglund brought to the Sabres.

1 minute ago, SwampD said:

Does this change how we feel about who won the trade?

Those who thought he was nothing more than a dump must be ecstatic.

[Brawndo]

5 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

 

Where does it say (besides CapFriendly) that Bergie has agreed to a termination?

It doesn’t hence the second line of the post

On a side note Friedman, Johnson, Dreger nor McKenzie have reported that Berglund  His Agent or the NHLPA are fighting this. They would be in the know if that was going to happen. 

[pi2000]

While it's nice to have his cap hit off the books, it would've been preferable for him to actually live up to the deal and contribute to this team for the next couple seasons.     Frankly, this is a disappointing outcome, and the Sabres are worse off for it.

[Huckleberry]

12 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

 

Hell we got room for tarasenko now to

Skinner 5.725 + berglund 3.85  = skinner 8.25 next year and still got 1.3  mill left most likely.

Moulson 5 + Pomminstein 5.6  = Tarasenko 7.5 and still have have 3.1 mill available.

?

Edited December 19, 2018 by Huckleberry

[...]

That math doesn't account for Skinner's current salary.  There's more to play with than that.

[Taro T]

43 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

But I take it you're not happy about losing 10-22-28.

I am not.  But LT, this puts the Sabres in a better situation contract wise.  This also MAY help both ST & LT as the Sabres will have the cap room & contract room to bringin a non-rental 2/3C player that could allow Mittelstadt to fit into 3C where he belongs at present.

Good luck to Berglund.  No animosity, just great disappointment that he couldn't be the 2C they hoped they were getting and won't be the quality (though overpriced for the role) 4R he turned out to be.

Edited December 19, 2018 by Taro T

[Doohicksie]

7 minutes ago, Andrew Amerk said:

This writer has decided to roll with “mutual.”

https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/berglund-placed-unconditional-waivers

I guess it seems too good to be true until I read it from an official source:  Berglund himself, the Sabres or the NHL.  Until then I'm assuming CapFriendly and WGR's reporter are reading too much into it.

[Mustache of God]

How much of a raise is skinner really due? 3 million? signing him won't be an issue for us.

[WildCard]

4 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

While it's nice to have his cap hit off the books, it would've been preferable for him to actually live up to the deal and contribute to this team for the next couple seasons.     Frankly, this is a disappointing outcome, and the Sabres are worse off for it.

Would it though? He has 4 points in 23gp and his advanced stats aren't great either. CJ Smith can easily play better

1 minute ago, Mustache of God said:

How much of a raise is skinner really due? 3 million? signing him won't be an issue for us.

probably 9M+. 8M+ at the very least

[SwampD]

Could he go back to the Blues?

[Doohicksie]

8 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I research this on the net, Montreal has done this with Pleky, Streit, Addison; the NYI with Kovar and the Flames w Grossman.  In each case the announcement was similar to this one and the decision was mutual.  None have left this much money on the table.

The only similar money wise was Richards and that was for cause, and that got settled with the NHLPA.

I’m tending to think this one is mutual.

I certainly hope so.  It could be that there is valid cause there, but revealing the cause (more so than has already been revealed) would hurt his ability to get a new contract.  He knows what his dirty laundry is and doesn't want the Sabres waving it around in public.

But still, until I see it officially.... too good to be true.

[Mustache of God]

6 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Depends how much value you thought Berglund brought to the Sabres.

Those who thought he was nothing more than a dump must be ecstatic.

I think this is great. We dumped the cap dump of the trade. If you think he was under-performing this year, imagine that 3 years older. No thanks.

This either opens up a spot to give a rochester prospect a shot or forces JBOT to go out and make a move to bring in more center depth, which i trust him to not ***** up. This makes the Sabres better in the not-too-distant future.

[Doohicksie]

2 minutes ago, SwampD said:

Could he go back to the Blues?

Why?  They didn't want him.

[pi2000]

Just now, ... said:

That math doesn't account for Skinner's current salary.  There's more to play with than that.

They'll have around $27m in cap space next season as Larsson, Girgensons, and Beaulieu are also coming off the books...

McCabe will be an RFA and probably gets around $2.5-3m.    Skinner gets $8m, Beaulieu $2.5m or so... leaving them with $14m to spend on filling a handful roster spots depending if they fill those with guys in already under contract in Roch, or FAs.