NHL Rumors: Elliotte Friedman speculates $5,000,000 fine, and more strict NHL tampering penalties

The NHL is cracking down on player tampering, with insider Elliotte Friedman suggesting fines for the same could reach $5 million. The league is reportedly concerned because of teams engaging in negotiations with players ahead of the official free agency start date on July 1. Earlier this year, many in the NHL community had finalized such deals.

On November 30th's "Saturday Headlines" broadcast on Sportsnet, Friedman said that the NHL has warned not only players but also the front office management and team employees.

"The NHL sent out a memo," Friedman said. "Now you'll remember, at the GM meetings, they warned teams about tampering. They didn't like how July 1 went last year, with a bunch of signings announced as (early as as July 1) afternoon. They have warned not only players, but also team employees like coaches and managers, other front office staff.

"They said these, they reminded everybody, these are the potential tampering penalties if you are caught, for teams or individuals. So they are trying to tell people, if you get caught, we are going to punish you."

NHL tampering can lead to serious penalties. Teams may face fines of up to $5 million, lose draft picks or have contracts canceled. They might also need to give draft picks or money to the affected team.

Individuals can be fined up to $1 million, suspended, or expelled. These rules are in place to ensure fair play and respect the free agency process.

NHL analyst Pierre LeBrun earlier talked about legal ways to bypass NHL tampering rule

Speaking on TSN's Insider Trading in November, Pierre LeBrun said that while the NHL tampering rules are strict, there are legal ways to begin discussions early. A team can allow its players to talk to other teams before July 1, often to secure draft picks in return.

"Agents can ask teams for permission to talk to other teams for their pending UFAs," LeBrun said. "Teams can themselves give permission to their pending UFAs to speak to other teams because they may want to get draft pick out of it before July 1."

"But the point is, there are mechanisms in place to get around some of this, but certainly sounded like a stern warning from Bill Daly to GMs... when it comes to July 1," LeBrun added.

However, Daly’s warning made it clear that the NHL expects teams to respect the tampering rules and avoid backdoor agreements. Though exceptions exist, the NHL wants to prevent early deals.