Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 51827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
“There isn’t a thing yet. It’s more like I like him; he likes me, but we both know he might be leaving. And I have kids, so I’m not having a fling.”
I don’t know her, but I think that’s actually why it’s so much easier to just put it all out there. With Jules, I don’t want to admit just how much I like Magnus. I’m worried she’ll try to intervene with Noel to keep Magnus here, and I’d never want to create professional problems for him.
“Seattle or Vegas.” Andie furrows her brow. “Those are very different places. What line of work is he in?”
“He’s an athlete.”
Her face lights up with a smile. “That’s so cool. When will he know if he’s moving?”
It depends on whom you ask. According to Jackson Hodge, a fan whose Substack I now subscribe to and read faithfully, Seattle and Vegas are likely the top two teams that will go after Magnus. Boston and Tampa are possibilities, too.
Jackson breaks it all down, discussing things like salary caps, potential line combinations, and who might be retiring. It seems like a lot of it is speculation, but from what other subscribers have said, his speculation is knowledgeable.
There’s also other online chatter about Magnus. It seems like he’s having a great season. Everyone seems to agree he’ll get a great contract, but the big question is where.
“Hopefully soon.” I take a sip of my iced tea and glance at my watch.
Jackson has said Cleveland could make Magnus an offer, but he doesn’t know if they’ll be able to be competitive.
I don’t know what that means, and it’s part of my frustration. What’s worse is that my soon-to-be brother-in-law understands it all perfectly, but I can’t talk to him about it.
I could ask Suki. Can I trust her that much? She could tell Carter everything, and it could get back to Magnus. Jules has told me Suki is rock solid, though, and they’ve become very good friends.
I text her.
Blair: Hey, I have some questions about hockey contracts for no particular reason. Can you call me sometime?
To my surprise, she texts me back immediately.
Suki: Is now okay? Rachel just went down for a nap and the girls are at school.
Blair: Sure, if you have time.
I throw away my burrito wrapper and pick up my tea, telling Andie I’m going to walk for a bit. Before I even get to the stairwell at the end of the hallway, Suki is calling me.
“Hi,” I say in answer.
“Hey, how are you?”
“Pretty good. A better question is how are you, solo parenting with back-to-back road trips?”
She huffs a note of laughter. “I’ve been bribing Olivia to help me. She’s banked a mani-pedi, a facial, and a sleepover with three friends so far. It’s worth every penny.”
“Good for you.”
“Will you tell Jules we need to get dress shopping on everyone’s schedule? With Mara’s pregnancy and me needing to line up childcare, we have to plan it.”
“I will. She said she can stay home from a weekend road trip so we can do it, but then that leaves you without Carter.”
“It’s fine. I have help; I just need to schedule it in advance.”
“Okay, so ... I just want to ask you, hypothetically, of course, about hockey player contracts.”
“Sure. What do you want to know? It’ll stay between us.”
I glance at my watch. Seven more minutes of break time. “If someone doesn’t have a contract for next year, when will they know if they’re getting one? And what team it’ll be from?”
“On when, I’m pretty sure other teams can’t offer him a contract until July.”
“July?!”
That’s a little over five months away. It feels like an eternity.
“They can’t formally offer him one. They can still talk to his agent. Cleveland could offer him one sooner.”
“How much sooner?”
She groans softly. “I’m still learning all this, so I might be wrong, but I think they could offer him a contract at any time unless they have cap issues.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“Okay, imagine a big bucket of money the front office people have to spend on players. Every team gets a bucket with the same amount of money. The owners can’t add any more money to it. They’re capped at the amount of money in the bucket. And things are always changing. Let’s say they have all of the money in their bucket committed and then they move a guy down to the minors and trade another guy. Now there’s some money back in their bucket, because they won’t have to spend as much, and they can use that money for someone else.”
“Okay, that makes sense. So when someone says a team might not be able to be competitive for a player, it’s—”
“Darling Maxwell, drop it.” She scolds the pig softly, probably not wanting to wake the baby. “Sorry. It’s because they might now have enough money left in the bucket.”