New York Rangers Handling of Jacob Trouba's Fiasco Could Lead to Huge Rule Change by Gary Bettman
The New York Rangers threatened Jacob Trouba with waivers to force his hand, and now, fans are calling for a major rule change in the upcoming CBA.
This past week has been a wild ride for the New York Rangers, with the team finally moving on from Jacob Trouba, as they ultimately managed to move him to the Anaheim Ducks in a major salary cap dump.
Trouba reportedly flexed his no-trade clause to turn down a move to the Columbus Blue Jackets, but in the end, it appears the decision to accept a trade to the Ducks came behind the threat of waivers.
Because of this, Elliotte Friedman has suggested on his latest appearance on Hockey Night in Canada that the NHL could potentially look into new rules that give players no-movement clauses, rather than no-trade clauses, allowing them better protections.
"I think what they are gonna ask the players association to do is have a conversation in the upcoming CBA negotiations where maybe there should just be one form of protection," revealed Friedman. "If you want to give me partial protection then I can't go to this team at all, it shouldn't be a trade or it shouldn't be waivers."
Obviously this isn't something that can be addressed under the current CBA, but if players place a team on their no-trade list, it also stands to reason that they shouldn't be threatened with being placed on waivers, only for one of those teams to go ahead and claim them.
It was a workaround the Rangers used to dump Barclay Goodrow to the San Jose Sharks in the summer, and with the team threatening to do it to their captain as well, it's clear people are taking note.
It's unclear however if this is something the league could even suggest given the nature of so many contracts out there, but if the NHLPA want the players to have more power, expect this to be something they push hard for.
