Elliotte Friedman was on NHL Now following the NHL Trade Deadline on Friday, and he was asked about one of the biggest reasons why there was minimal player movement. His answer revolved around the trade protection that so many players in the NHL have.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Cory Schneider: “I wanted to ask you a question. I don’t say there’s a lack of movement today (yesterday), but there were some big names out there that didn’t end up moving. Some teams who I thought were clear sellers, who didn’t maybe sell off as much as we had thought. How much did the new rules of the CBA affect that in terms of no double retention, the LTIR rule for playoffs, and even the cap going up, where teams are now able to retain their pending free agents? Do you have a sense of any that played a factor in maybe guys not moving that we thought were clearly going to move?”
Elliotte Friedman: “You know, Cory, I think of all those things. I think the double retention played the biggest deal, because if you wanted to do double retention this year, you had to have the first trade done by early December. And it’s just, I really do think, and I’ll freely admit it, I hate the league for doing this because it’s not good for all of us who like this stuff. But I think that was one of the biggest, biggest factors. The playoff new LTIR, yeah, I think teams were concerned about it, but the double retention was bigger.
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Honestly, Cory, I think the biggest thing is the no-trade clauses, and I don’t complain about that, and you negotiate a deal, and the two sides sign a deal. Fair is fair. You live up to your deal. But I do think sometime down the road, and maybe it’s the next CBA. I expect teams and the league to try to see if they can come up with a way to limit them. I don’t know if it’ll work, but I hear a lot of complaining about that.
However, right now, Cory fair is fair if you sign a deal, and there’s guys like Kelly Hrudey. He’s a total hardliner. He feels that if you have a no trade clause. You shouldn’t even be allowed to ask to waive it. But I think that’s the biggest factor.”
NHLRumors.com Note: Now, to be fair to Elliotte and the GMs in the NHL, they asked for a playoff cap. They asked for LTIR in the playoffs and the double retention. Many GMs who were as aggressive or creative as Kelly McCrimmon in Vegas, Bill Zito in Florida, Julien BriseBois in Tampa Bay, Jim Nill in Dallas, and others on the list felt they were circumventing the system. So they put these rules in place. These are also the same GMs who wanted a decentralized draft. So fair is fair.
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As for the NTC/NMCs, teams don’t like handing them out, but players want cost certainty and don’t want to wonder about their future year-to-year. That’s why Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff finally started handing them out to keep players in Winnipeg and bring them there. Right now, his best six players have NTCs. The rest don’t. That’s how former GM Lou Lamoriello operated.
Nothing in the CBA says you have to give a player an NTC, but the likelihood of him signing there is slim. But having 13 players with some sort of trade protection really hinders a team’s ability to get trades done.
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