Insider Trading: The latest from the GM meetings

The TSN Hockey Insiders share the latest from the GM meetings, including Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald's plea for throat protection after his son's scary injury, the NHL possibly mandating cut proof equipment, deadlines for Olympic rosters, and more.

The important thing with what [New Jersey Devils GM] Tom Fitzgerald shared with the other general managers was that he wasn’t merely sharing the story as a general manager, he was sharing it as a father, as a parent.

Tom Fitzgerald DevilsPierre LeBrun: No question Gino. He was emotional in the room. I think he was choking up afterwards talking to a lot of us about it. He had a message to share. It’s not really a room that need convincing, but it reinforces the message that the league has got to get to a place where players are wearing neck guards.

He’s not just a hockey father and a GM but someone who sits on the cut-resistant equipment committee for the NHL since last year. So really, a trifecta in terms of how this has affected Tom Fitzgerald and how he feels passionately about this issue.

He said he knows that the NHLPA won’t be happy about this, but he let the Players’ Association know that he intends to mandate it on his own team in New Jersey. He wants his players wearing neck guards.

Johnston: Those discussions continue to happen with the NHL and the NHLPA. There’s also CBA talks going on, so there’s a lot going on in the sport. There’s still opportunity and potential that perhaps cut-resistant equipment is mandated as soon as next season. That would be grandfathered in for any new player entering the league, similar to what happened with visors a decade ago.

That is at least still on the table at this point in time. I think it’s inevitable at this point. It’s a question of when, not if, it comes to this. It’s already mandated by the AHL, ECHL, in International play. It is coming to the NHL. At this point, you might not have to do it in New Jersey because there’s still a chance that it happens in the NHL very soon.

Dreger: The NHL wrapped up its exercise in goalie interference. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about that over the years. I do applaud Hockey Operations for their level of transparency. Some of the clips that we’ve talked about on Monday were voted on by the general managers. They gave us the tally and it turned out that they looked at 54 examples of goalie interference and the NHL GMs that were polled agreed with 52 of 54. One of those, unanimously, was Alex Debrincat of the Detroit Red Wings getting called for goalie interference against the Minnesota Wild in February.

We’ll see where it goes from here. You have agreement from general managers and agreement with the league. Now you have to get the coaches and the goaltenders onside. We know that the coaches and GMs will meet with the NHL and that will be a big topic in September.
 

A couple of international hockey notes today, gentlemen?

Canada 4 NationsLeBrun: The NHL and NHLPA still haven’t finalized their deal for the Olympic Winter Games in Italy, although everyone expects that to get done. In the meantime we found out that there are roster deadlines that are now being communicated to all the countries.

June 15 is the deadline for each country to name six players, then the rest of the roster gets named on Dec. 31. The relevance of that is that no one was happy they had to announce the 4 Nations rosters on Dec. 4. Well, they’ve got four extra weeks [this time].

Dreger: Hockey Canada wrapped up their meetings, including a review of the 4 Nations Face-Off. They’re also now planning ahead and looking at the orientation sessions that will be held this summer in Calgary for the men’s and women’s Olympic teams and the Paralympics. So, a lot of work getting done.

Johnston: And before the Olympics we still have a men’s World Championships to be held in May in Sweden. It’s not confirmed at this time, but it sounds like Kyle Dubas will be Canada’s GM for that event. He’s part of the Olympic team as an assistant GM. He was at the Worlds and the 4 Nations, so it’s a bump up for Dubas.