One last follow-up on the Eric Belanger situation. Caught up again with his agent, Joe Tacopina, this morning. He hasn’t completely backed off a legal case against the Caps. Most sources I’ve spoken with don’t think he has one anyway. No one disputes that there was never a signed contract and under the collective-bargaining agreement even getting a grievance heard may be difficult and not worth the effort. The Caps, obviously, disagree with Tacopina’s version of events that led Belanger to sign with the Phoenix Coyotes this week for $750,000. But while a successful legal case is a longshot Belanger may seek damages anyway for loss of income. The Caps made an oral offer of $1.85 million, according to Tacopina, on July 16 that was contingent on a trade that never happened. Belanger believes he was strung along. The team insists it did nothing wrong. And so here we are.
“We are working with the [Players Association], who are experts in this, and letting the process run its course,” Tacopina said. “There was an offer and there was acceptance. There were actions by the team that caused Eric to rely on the team’s word…I’m not making any predictions on the merit of a legal case. We are pursuing and investigating our legal options.”
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