Waiver Abuse and the Future of Frank Corrado
By Jeremy Davis
8 years agoBy now you’re probably sick of the story of Frank Corrado. Well, that’s too bad because I have more to say about it.
Going into this season, the expectation was for him to be among the Canucks top seven – if not top six – defencemen. That expectation may have led to some pre-season complacency and before you knew it, Corrado had lost his spot to rookie Ben Hutton and found himself on the waiver wire, where he was promptly claimed by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Maybe decried the poor asset management on behalf of the Canucks and vowed that we hadn’t heard the last of Frank Corrado. Indeed, just under two months later, Corrado is regularly making headlines. Of course, it’s for all the wrong reasons.
20 games into the Maple Leafs season, Corrado still has yet to suit up for a single game. Many, including myself and other bloggers, have wondered why the Leafs would claim Corrado if they didn’t intend to play him. I would argue that the entire situation is an abuse of the waiver process, and of Corrado’s future as an NHLer.
Waiver Abuse
The fact that Corrado was claimed in the first place was not a surprise. He’s 22-years old, a right shot defenceman, and he’s shown well in limited NHL tours in the past. Who wouldn’t want him? Losing him on waivers was damn near inevitable, and Canuck nation was rightfully incensed at the lack of asset management.
On the flip side, there is apparently such a thing as too much asset management. To this point, the Leafs appear to have picked up Corrado strictly for the sake of grabbing a free asset: they haven’t actually let him play at all, and, as a result, the Leafs appear to be abusing the waiver system.
You see, the entire point of waivers is to prevent NHL teams from stockpiling too much NHL talent in the minors, as well as protecting NHL caliber players from being unfairly buried. If a team is willing to waive a player, that player must be given a fair chance to play for another NHL team, if one believes he is capable of doing so. That’s a right he has earned after finishing his ELC and receiving a Standard Player Contract.
The fact that Corrado was picked up just to sit around is not only ironic, but it goes against the entire purpose of waivers – causing some to speculate whether the NHLPA will propose some rule changes in regards to claimed players.
In my humble opinion, that’s exactly what should happen. It would not surprise me in the least if the NHLPA was beginning to get a little ticked about the Corrado situation. They wouldn’t be the only ones.
This whole situation reminds me of a traditional Canuck power play, where they pass the puck endlessly around the outside, never getting around to taking a shot at the net, and the fans begin to get restless and shout at the players.
In this metaphor, every pass is another Leafs game and the shot that never comes is Corrado being allowed to play hockey. The longer that this goes on, the more restless the fans become, and now the shouting begins. Hardly a weekend goes by without another article pondering why Corrado hasn’t cracked the lineup.
Toronto coach Mike Babcock has spoken on the topic already, which has basically clarified two things: one, that he is, in fact aware the Frank Corrado exists, and two, that he’s certainly in no hurry to get Corrado in the lineup, not even two Saturdays ago when the Maple Leafs faced off at home against the Vancouver Canucks.
Babcock further elaborated on his reasoning:
“It’s not that we don’t like him … [but] we’re in the winning business so we try to do the best thing to give our team the chance to win. That’s no indication of how he’s played or what he’s done, it’s none of those things. Now what we’ve done is we’ve put him in a bad spot because he hasn’t played in a long time.”
The Leafs went as far as sending Corrado to the minors on a bogus “conditioning assignment” (typically reserved for players recovering from an injury), under the guise that he needed to get into game shape. It’s now been two weeks since his return and still he waits, making the whole conditioning stint look even more like a scam than it did when it occurred.
The Leafs basically have four options when it comes to Frank Corrado: they could let him play, they could trade him, they could waive him, or they could scratch him indefinitely, waiting for an injury, and risk stunting his growth as a prospect.
The Trade Route
Have you ever wondered why teams don’t just snap up free assets on waivers and trade them away for something they actually want? Well, it’s because the CBA won’t allow it – at least not that easily.
Article 13.20(b) of the CBA outlines specific stipulations regarding a team’s ability to trade assets that it claimed off waivers. Simply put, if a team wants to trade a claimed player, they must first offer that player to any other teams that put in a claim.
At this point, we don’t know which teams put in a claim for a Corrado. In accordance with Article 13.19, prior to November 1st, the reversed standings of the previous NHL season determine waiver order.
Corrado was waived on October 7th, and was claimed by Toronto, who, according to the NHL’s 2014-15 final standings, Toronto had the fourth-worst point total and thus was fourth in line for waivers claims. We can safely say that Buffalo, Arizona, and Edmonton (the teams below Toronto last season) did not make a claim for Corrado, but there are 25 other teams (once Toronto and Vancouver are removed from the equation) that we don’t have an answer for.
If there were any other teams that put in a claim, Corrado must first be offered to these teams on terms equal to the proposed trade. Only upon a refusal from those teams may the trade be consummated.
I don’t need to tell you that if the Canucks gave up an asset in order to trade for Corrado, there would be hell to pay in Canuck Nation.
The Waiver Wire
If the Leafs aren’t going to let Corrado play in the NHL, the proper thing to do would be to allow him to play somewhere else. If there are no takers for a trade, that would mean putting him back on the waiver wire.
Corrado getting claimed by another NHL team a second time isn’t necessarily a guarantee. Decent players do sneak through from time to time and many GM’s have to be wondering what is wrong with the kid that Mike Babcock won’t give a smidgen of ice time to.
Typically, a claimed player’s SPC must be transferred to the claiming team and that team cannot assign their new player to the minors without exposing the player to waivers once more. Given these regulations, a team has to be certain that they want to keep this player on their active roster (usually with the intention of actually playing him).
There is one team however that wouldn’t have to think twice about making a claim.
If the Leafs waive Corrado and the Canucks are the only team making a claim, Article 13.22 allows the Canucks to send him down to Utica without requesting waivers again. They can even keep him on the big club for 30 days or up to nine games before sending him down, in case injuries are a concern.
This would be a shot at redemption for Jim Benning and Canucks brass – they could retrieve a lost asset and place him in the minors where they wanted him to go in the first place. Better yet, Corrado would actually get some playing time instead of withering away in the Toronto press box.
Unfortunately, the fact that it would be so easy and convenient for Vancouver to recover Corrado in such a situation is exactly what makes it so unlikely that the Leafs will actually attempt it. The Leafs get to keep their free asset and wait for injuries to eventually come about. The only one who really loses now is Frankie Corrado.
Just Do Something
The two remaining options – play him or continue to scratch him – are unfortunately the two options that seem most likely to occur. Given Babcock’s view of the situation and the current health of Toronto’s blue line (which could, of course, change in any given game), there’s certainly no guarantee that Corrado will play anytime soon.
This is frustrating for a couple of reasons. For one, it goes against the spirit of waivers and frankly should be against the rules. The Maple Leafs are behaving despicably strictly in the name of asset management, which is actually quite ironic, considering that one could easily make the argument that what the Leafs are doing is in fact very poor asset management. They are letting a young prospect who should be playing hockey somewhere, anywhere, whither away out of fear of losing something they got for free.
For another, far more important reason, it’s frustrating because it has the potential to damage Frank Corrado’s career long term. A 22-year old player with limited NHL experience is going to be unfairly disadvantaged by sitting idly for an extending period of time. Corrado has played just 52 regular season games since the beginning of 2014-15 (NHL and AHL combined) while his peers have played more than 100 regular season games in the same span. When Corrado finally gets the call in game 25 or 30 (or beyond), do you really think he’s going to be able to put his best foot forward against a bunch of opponents who are in midseason form? What are the chances that he plays well enough to keep lineup spot after that?
Something needs to change, and it needs to change soon. Whatever the solution may be, the Maple Leafs need to do
something
other than what they’re currently doing.
Nothing written here is going to change the minds of the brain trust over at Maple Leaf headquarters. However, I do have hope that this whole ordeal sparks some sort of change in the CBA, spearheaded by the NHLPA. After all, their purpose is to prevent players from being taken advantage of, and that is exactly what has happened with Frank Corrado. This is the age of asset management, and to them he is nothing more than an asset, in the truest sense of the word.
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