Gary Bettman has blocked a trade involving Tony Deangelo due to salary cap reasons
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Hayden B
June 26, 2023 (11:58)
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It was 2 days ago that Elliotte Friedman sent out the following tweet saying that the Flyers were working on a trade to send defenseman Tony DeAngelo back to the Hurricanes.
Last July, Carolina traded Restricted Free Agent Tony DeAngelo to Philadelphia in return for 3 draft picks. Former Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher shortly after trading for DeAngelo, signed him to a 2-year, 10M contract.
Fletcher has since been relieved of his duties in Philly, and ex-Flyer player Danny Briere stepped in his place, and is working to reshape the roster this offseason.
Why is the NHL Blocking this Trade
Well, the proposed trade sending DeAngelo back to Carolina included Philadelphia retaining 50% of his salary. Now according to the National Hockey League's Collective Bargaining Agreement:
Rule 50.5 of the NHL CBA protects against a team trading a player, having another team pick up a percentage of their salary, and then quickly reacquiring that player at a reduced cap cost. It states that "under no circumstances may a Club reacquire, as part of a Retained Salary Transaction, the contract of a player who was on that Club's Reserve List within the past calendar year."
Therefore, if there was no salary retention involved, the NHL would have no problem with the trade.