No Trade Clause, Not So Much

Who is handing these fucking things out?

I mean really, what the hell does this clause do for teams? It handcuff's them, that's what it does, that's all it does.

Is the only function of these things to make sure that the GM gets the player's permission to get moved to a more favorable situation, or for the player to put the kaibosh on a ticket to hockey purgatory/borderline hell? I understand these guys don't want to move all over the place, uprooting their family from city to city, but shit, these guys are making if not multi-millions, than hundreds of thousands of dollars to play hockey with the premier talent in the world. If you gave me the league minimum and asked me to play in Siberia, I'd sign the contract, take the money, and vacation. A lot. This is the life you chose, and its a damn good life in the eyes of millions who don't have it. Don't want to move your family around, plant them somewhere that'll keep them happy, and go back when you can. I'm sorry but I've got no sympathy for this situation.

And how many deals is it going to void today, or in the summer?

There's two of these types of hostage situations, there's of course the no trade clause, but there's also the no movement clause. Let's take a look at the language of these...

The No Trade Clause (NTC) - The player cannot be traded without his consent, however his consent is not required for placement on waivers, or re-assignment to the minors.

The No Movement Clause (NMC) - The player cannot be traded, waived for a claim by another team, or assigned to the minors without his consent. However, this does not protect the player from a contractual buyout.

An even bigger screw job.

These definitions were blantantly stolen from NHLSCAP.com, who has a great page that lays out straight this bag of snakes of NTC/NMC and a list of players with those contractual stipulations.

Its amazing how many guys in the league have these shackles in place. Mostly the higher end talent in the league, have a little bit more leverage against the GM's in what they offer in services. But some of them are head scratching.

Wade Redden (NYR), Todd Marchant (Ana), Scott Walker (Car), Scott Hannan (Col), Georges Laraque (Mon), Derek Morris (Phx), a big chip in the trade talk, (for some reason).

And some of the stipulations tied to these, the player can make a list of a set number of teams, starts now, ends then, only in the Eastern Conference, only in the West. Its getting to be ri-Goddam-diculous.

Every team in the league has at least one guy on the roster with one of these manacles, except for one. Minnesota.

Marinate on that for a minute.