I just figure if anyone wanted (TO PAY) him, he'd be playing there, no?
Perfectly logical conclusion, Mick!👍
Now my rambling reason why. LOL
Local coverage here, reported two significant things that had to take place, in order for a POTENTIAL return, by Orpik, back to the Caps, to be LEGAL:
1) Washington could NOT buyback Orpiks remaining contract from Colorado. If they did, Orpik becomes ineligible to return to them, without a waiting period, (I believe either 1 yr, or until January).
2) Colorado could buy Orpik out, OR, any team except the Caps, could buy Orpiks contract from Colorado, since they owned it via the Gruby deal.
Colorado knew, in advance, they were not going to put Orpik on their roster. THEY, first tried to shop him, (maybe a few days), accepting that it was not likely to get any takers, and they were prepared for the buy out and release of Orpik, already. THEY WANTED GRUBY! Credit GMBM for understanding Colorado’s desperation for a goalie, and “padding the Gruby ticket” with an inclusion of Orpiks contract value. That is NOT a loophole. That is called finding the right buyer, same thing ANY agent would try to do for his player/client! GMBM simply did it for HIS “CLIENT”, The Washington Capitals!!
Once Colorado bought out Orpiks contract, and released him, he was a free agent, with the liberty to accept ANY OFFER he pleased, from ANY NHL team. Orpik may very well have preferred to return to the Caps, but this does not diminish the risk to the Caps, that existed, if other offers were to ensue.
This “risk of loss” burden, put upon the Caps, IMHO, was why NHL found nothing illegal, as from a transactional point of view, there wasn’t a “loophole” found, to guarantee Orpiks return to the Caps, rather, another team, (Colorado), that was was WILLING, to somewhat OVERPAY, in order to fill an IMMEDIATE need. The very essence of what trade negotiations are all about! In this case, a win/win for both us and the Avalanche!
It is not a long leap to conclude that, even if there were other offers for Orpik, from other teams, they were subpar in Orpiks view. However, I seriously doubt there were any other offers, because Colorado would have jumped at them, to get back even minimal value for Orpik, AND, the Caps weren’t permitted by NHL rules, to buy Orpiks contract back from Colorado! Now THAT....would be attempting to exploit a LOOPHOLE!!! (Oh yeah...and why I agree with you, Mick)😁😁
Rush