#Leafs defenceman Frank Corrado will join the @TorontoMarlies on a conditioning stint to get ready for game action. #TMLtalk
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) October 22, 2015 Remember Frank Corrado ? The Toronto Maple Leafs picked him up off waivers just before the season started, and he has yet to actually dress for them. The last time he saw NHL action, he was with the Vancouver Canucks: the team that waived him in the first place.
See, the rule is, when you claim a player off of waivers, you yourself can't send him down to the AHL. If you do, the team that waived him has first dibs to get him back, and the Canucks would probably like to do that.
A conditioning stint isn't being waived, though; it's allowing a player to get back into game shape over the course of two weeks. Once those two weeks are up, the player has to be back in the NHL. It's something you typically find when a player hasn't played in a long time, and immediately sending them to the highest level of hockey possible would be less than wise.
This doesn't exactly apply to Corrado, so this all seems rather... odd. Via section 13.8 of the CBA:
Unless a Player consents, he shall not be Loaned on a Conditioning Loan to a minor league club. Such Conditioning Loan shall not extend for more than fourteen (14) consecutive days. The Commissioner may take whatever steps he deems necessary to investigate the circumstances under which a Player is Loaned on a Conditioning Loan. If the Commissioner has reason to believe or determines that the Club has used the Conditioning Loan to evade Waivers, or otherwise Circumvent any provision of this Agreement, he may take such disciplinary action against the Club, as he deems appropriate. The Player shall continue, during the period of such Conditioning Loan, to receive the same Paragraph 1 NHL Salary, and be entitled to the same benefits, that he would have received had he continued to play with the Club.
The NHL has rejected conditioning stints in the past. In 2013, they called bunk on the Buffalo Sabres' attempts to send Mikhail Grigorenko to the AHL.
Basically, the NHL concluded that Mikhail Grigorenko did not have "general body soreness" and was not eligible for conditioning loan.
— John Vogl (@BuffNewsVogl) November 20, 2013 We'll have to see what happens with Corrado, but this all does seem at least a little odd. He did put up 16 points over 35 games with the Utica Comets last season, though, so at least we know he can play at the AHL level.