Here's a follow-up to what happened with the Stafford signing. I posted this over at USCHO...
Here's how the deal went down. Stafford was in discussions with Buffalo when he was named to the National Team for play in the IHF World Championship. On or about the 28th the Buffalo deal was agreed upon in principle and Drew flew out on Saturday the 29th to finalize it before leaving for Europe (as a matter of fact, his flight was delayed due to a flat tire, a bad omen perhaps?). Here's where the screw up occured. Since the contract includes guaranteed money, USA Hockey was supposed to have taken out an insurance policy on Drew in case of injury so Buffalo wouldn't be on the hook for the contract (apparently standard procedure). However, when Drew got to Buffalo, USA Hockey did not have the policy or the proper paperwork ready and it was the weekend so nothing could get done. Buffalo said, whoa, wait a minute, we aren't completing this thing unless we're protected. Hence, the deal wasn't signed and Drew had to get going for the tourney. Now the thought was that Drew would get the deal finalized when he got back, but someone got on the ball and got the proper paperwork together and the deal got done (either by fax or Buffalo has a rep at the tourney, not sure on that one).