When the Penguins and Sabres were haggling over the compensation rule for Dan Bylsma, there was chatter in league circles even minutes before the official announcement [Dan Bylsma hire] of the Sabres planning to go to the league due to the confusion over the rule and fight for the pick to be returned to them.
They may get their wish.
From Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet on his weekly 30 Thoughts Feature:
[11. One last note about meetings: expect to see some clarification on the compensation issue when the GMs and Board of Governors sit down in Las Vegas. Some of the biggest supporters of the idea didn’t expect it to involve Dan Bylsma or Peter Chiarelli, who were fired by their previous teams. Mike Babcock? Yes. No question. The wildcard in all this is one exec said Commissioner Gary Bettman made it very clear he wanted a black-and-white rule without controversy, which didn’t happen. Could he scrap it altogether? Not sure, and, right now, he’s got other things to worry about. I also wondered if it’s possible Buffalo and Edmonton could get their picks back, but there’s no answer at this point. But I do think the fired-employee issue gets cleared up.]