



(Photo Credit: Sarah Hobday)

If you’ve been following the Canucks this past season, then you’re probably familiar with the story of the Latvian Locomotive, Ronalds Kenins. Kenins achieved cult hero status this season in Vancouver when he scored 3 goals in his first 7 NHL games (that snipe in the playoffs didn’t hurt either) after being signed as a completely unknown player in the summer of 2013. He came over to North America for the 2014-15 season and, after putting up decent depth numbers for Utica, he set the world on fire at the NHL level (relatively speaking of course).

So you’ll forgive Vancouver fans for their love affair with Latvian hockey players. Upon finding out that the Canucks had invited Latvian born forward Rodrigo Abols to the Young Stars Classic, we were of course ecstatic. Could this be the next Ronalds Kenins? Plus, you know, he’s 6-foot-3, so meat and potatoes? Check! Sign him! Sign him immediately!

Well you can’t have him. At least not yet. The dirty rotten CBA is preventing us from laying claim to the next great Latvian (probably), and here’s how it’s doing it.

Why We Love Rodrigo Abols

First, a quick refresher on why we love Rodrigo Abols so much already.

In typical Latvian fashion, Abols has already drawn attention from his home country, where friends and family (and probably complete strangers, Latvians love their hockey) are staying up through the wee hours of the night to watch Rodrigo compete in the Youngs Star Classic.

“I have my girlfriend wake up, my parents, my godfather – everyone was up in the morning and watching me play. When you realize … it’s very special to have that kind of support.”

Abols didn’t take long to make himself noticed on the ice either. He put himself on Canucks fans’ radar with a breakaway attempt early in the first Young Stars game against the Oilers.

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He doesn’t score, but nice effort by Rodrigo Abols to get a breakaway here. pic.twitter.com/9dTqcHE2en — CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) September 12, 2015

He should some smarts and speed by getting away from the pack, though the finish wasn’t quite there, so of course the Jannik Hansen comparisons began to rain down.

Rodrigo Abols just missed on a breakaway, which must mean he’s the next Jannik Hansen. Sign him immediately. — Pass it to Bulis (@passittobulis) September 12, 2015

Abols began the first game on the fourth line with Kyle Pettit and Mackenze Stewart. For the second game, he started on the third line with Cole Cassels and Joseph Joe Labate (I think we can agree that that is a promotion). Obviously he made an impression on that coaching staff, because for the third and final game, Abols was put on the first line with the Canucks top prospects at the tournament, Jake Virtanen and Jared McCann. It worked out too, and late in the third period, Abols did this:

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And the crowd went wild. Former Canucks Army editor Rhys Jessop summed it up perfectly:

Abols-olutely huge goal there — Rhys Jessop (@Thats_Offside) September 15, 2015

So that how we got here. Vancouver wants Rodrigo Abols and they want him now. When all the big Canucks blogs (Pass It To Bulis, Vancity Buzz, Nucks Misconduct, Canucks Army) are all in agreement, you know you’ve got something special.

But as mentioned, the NHL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement is preventing us from having nice things.

We in the blogosphere aren’t the only ones that have been enthralled by Rodrigo Abols. TSN’s Matt Sekeres and Blake Price (president of the Latvian Hockey fan club, North American chapter) had Jim Benning on their Midday Show the other day, and Blake could hardly wait to broach the subject. This was Jim Benning’s response:

We can’t sign him. The deal with him is that we watched him last year, we were thinking about drafting him, and then for whatever reason we didn’t draft him. He’s playing in Portland this year, and because he’s a European player, he’s ineligible to sign with us right now, or with anytime, so he’ll play in Portland this year, he’ll go through the draft next year, and that’ll decide where he ends up.

Kudos on Canucks management for realizing this now. Hockey fans will likely remember the story of Vladimir Tkachev, who attended the Oilers camp in 2014 and became a fan favourite. Then-GM Craig MacTavish signed Tkachev to a Entry Level Contract, only to have NHL executives facepalm and remind poor bumbling MacT that he wasn’t allowed to do that, voiding the contract, and providing the league with yet another reason to chuckle at the poor Oilers.

Vladimir Tkachev cooled off considerably following the Oilers debacle and went undrafted in the 2015 Draft. Of course, he wasn’t Latvian.

The Canucks would like to avoid be a laughing stock (at least anymore than they already are), so it’s good that they’ve done their homework on SPC eligibility.

For a more comprehensive analysis of this sticky situation, we’ll have to delve into the CBA.

What the CBA Says

I had so much fun trudging through the gobbledygook of the CBA before, I thought i’d try it again.

The Free Agency rules (Section 10.1) determine which players are eligible to be given standard player contracts.





As you can see, any player who is ineligible to be drafted becomes an Unrestricted Free Agent (pursuant to a collection of exceptions that don’t apply here), so we’ll have to jump back to Article 8, the NHL Entry Draft, to examine how draft eligibility is determined. Article 8.4 has this to say:

The above is a list of exceptions that would render a player ineligible for the draft. However, Rodrigo Abols is not on any reserve list, he has never been claimed in a draft and he has never played in the NHL. Furthermore, he doesn’t turn 20 until January 5th of next year (so close!), making him an age-20 player at the 2016 Entry Draft, according to the age definitions.

Without fulfilling any of the exceptions, Abols is eligible to be claimed in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, and therefore he is ineligible to be signed by any NHL team at this point. Sorry guys.

The Canucks have the option of course of selecting Abols in the 2016 Draft. If they choose not to do so, and he somehow manages to slip past all 30 teams, his situation will change.

Having been drafted 50th overall in the CHL import draft, Abols will suit up for the Portland Winterhawks this season. On January 5th, 2017, he will turn 21 years old. The combination of these two facts will make him ineligible for the 2017 Entry Draft by way of Article 8.4 (a)(iv) and therefore he will become an unrestricted free agent according to Article 10.1 (d), (both these articles are shown above).

There you have it. The Canucks have teased us with another legendary Latvian, but unfortunately, we won’t be able to claim this one for at least another 9 months, when he goes through the draft or otherwise becomes a free agent. That’s when we make our move, assuming that no one else grabs him first.









