IIHF President Rene Fasel yesterday said that he "has been consulting players and officials over a deal to ensure" NHLers are available for the '18 Pyeongchang Games. Fasel: "It will not be easy for sure, but our goal is to bring the NHL to Korea." Fasel also said that he did not consider next year's revived World Cup of Hockey, organized by the NHL, to "be a threat to the IIHF's annual world championship." Fasel: "Different continent. Many different players. Different continent, different fans. They're going to play (the World Cup) in Toronto, it's a hockey city, 100 percent. We go to Czech (Republic), another place where hockey is very, very popular" (AP, 4/21).
WAIVE GOODBYE: NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly on Monday said that for coaches, GMs or presidents of hockey operations who are "fired but remain under contract, their teams are privy to draft pick compensation if they choose to pursue it" from a team that hires that person. But he added that the team "can also waive the draft pick compensation if it wants." ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun noted the reason "many teams would waive in most cases is they're more interested in getting the person who is under contract but no longer working for the team off the books." LeBrun: "So why discourage a hire elsewhere" (ESPN.com, 4/20).
GREAT SCOTT! ESPN CHICAGO's Jesse Rogers noted MLB agent Scott Boras "wants 'panels' consisting of baseball experts to help decide if a first-year player is worthy of making the team out of spring training." Boras yesterday said, "It can't be subjective. It has to be objective among a board, a panel." Under Boras' idea, if a player is "sent down to the minors during spring training ... then the players' union can file a 'claim' asking an independent panel to decide if the player deserved to make the major league roster based on his play" (ESPNCHICAGO.com, 4/21).
