Drake Caggiula’s 74-day free agency wait would’ve been far more excruciating if not for one thing:
The birth of his son.
The addition of Cash William Caggiula into the 26-year-old forward’s blossoming family on Nov. 5 gave the ex-Blackhawk a very worthwhile responsibility to attend to while waiting for an NHL job to finally appear.
“Just to be talking my fiancé and allowing myself to be a human and not worrying about hockey [was great],” Caggiula said Tuesday. “It was actually a nice little break to think about other stuff that’s going on in the real world and take my mind off of it.”
Nov. 5, 2020 we welcomed our first child. Cash William Caggiula. Weighing in at a whopping 8 lbs, 8 oz. Such a special moment for Laura and I. We couldn’t love you more little man! pic.twitter.com/i5ZYIyjf6Q
— Drake Caggiula (@drakecaggiula) November 6, 2020
All the while, Caggiula kept training every day at a private rink in his hometown of Pickering, Ontario, just east of Toronto.
With the flattened salary cap and uncertainty about the upcoming 2021 season having all but eliminated teams’ willingness to bring in new players throughout much of autumn, preparing his body and remaining optimistic were his only options.
And finally, Caggiula’s optimism paid off. On Monday, he signed a one-year contract at the league-minimum salary — $700,000 — with the Coyotes.
“It’s a big relief. It’s a weight off the shoulders,” he said. “There’s a time period there where not much is happening [and] you’re wondering, ‘What’s the next plan for me?’ To find a new home and a new job and still be able to play the game of hockey that I love, it’s a very good thing.”
The move reunites him with former University of North Dakota teammate and roommate Nick Schmaltz, a former Hawks forward himself.
Caggiula finished his 1.5-year Hawks tenure with 14 goals and 13 assists (27 points) in 66 regular-season games, statistics which look a lot higher than one might expect.
Concussions and other injuries have unfortunately kept Caggiula from coming anywhere near a complete season during his first four years in the league, but when healthy, he serves as a versatile, style-morphing forward who can capably fill a hole in any of the four lines.
That’s why it was so surprising when the Hawks in October declined to offer Caggiula a qualifying offer, which would have kept him a restricted free agent. Asked Tuesday about the Hawks’ decision, Caggiula first sighed and wiped his hand across his face before answering.
“When you’re part of an organization, you think that’s where you’re going to be for the foreseeable future,” he admitted. “But once the pandemic hit, all hell broke loose and it was just a free-for-all in the financial and numbers aspects.
“It’s not just the game of hockey anymore; there’s a lot more that goes into it. You have to be prepared for the business side of things. If Chicago would’ve offered me, who knows what would’ve happened, but it is what it is the way it played out.”
Instead of re-signing without blinking an eye, Caggiula became unrestricted and his long wait began. He said he conferred with his agent, Justin Duberman, “pretty much every single day” during the offseason while seeking an offer.
But Slater Koekkoek, who also became a UFA in October when the Hawks didn’t qualify him, has experienced a similar delay this fall and still hasn’t yet signed with a new team. So in that sense, Caggiula — having found a suitor at last — is lucky.
Offside rule changed
The NHL announced Tuesday a modification to its offside rule.
The blue line now extends in a vertical plane, and players’ skates will no longer have to be touching the ice to be considered onside. The well-received change will eliminate a trend of goals overturned by pedantic challenges.
The league also released COVID-19 protocols for the 2021 season. Notable rules include restricted movement for players in road cities, a mask requirement for coaches on the bench and the public announcement of positive test cases.
The 2021 schedule is expected to be released Wednesday.
.jpg?w=600)
