Precise numbers have changed since then, but the point remains: NHLers are much more likely to negotiate trade protection. Why is that?<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6P2FPOKC55HF3BUT2NALGGH55E.JPG\")
Utah Mammoth defenseman Nate Schmidt (88) works to clear the puck with Columbus Blue Jackets center Kent Johnson (91) moving in as they play at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News Hard cap and a culture of \u2018taking less\u2019<\/p>\n
Of the four major pro sports leagues in North America, the NHL and the NFL are the only ones with a hard salary cap.<\/p>\n
In the NBA, for example, there are a variety of exceptions that allow a team to go over the cap. In the NHL, the league will not approve a transaction that puts a team over the cap during the season.<\/p>\n
Why is that significant? Because in the NHL, teams offer trade protection in place of monetary compensation as a means of keeping their payrolls lower. That strategy hasn\u2019t found its way to the other leagues.<\/p>\n
Tyler Johnson, a 13-year NHL veteran who retired after the 2024-25 season, recently joined<\/a> Jeff Marek on The Sheet to break it down.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you negotiate your contract, you always, kind of, have a dollar amount based off that no-trade or no-move,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, for example, when I signed my bigger contract, we believe that the no-trade clause was worth about $500,000 to $750,000 a year. So, if we didn\u2019t want that no-trade or no-move, I was going to have to make that much more each year, so it was kind of up to the team to decide.\u201d<\/p>\n Some players see it as less transactional than what Johnson explained.<\/p>\n As explained in a recent Deseret News article<\/a>, certain guys take less money as a way to help manage the team\u2019s salary cap and increase its competitiveness. However, unless they negotiate trade protection, they can end up being casualties of a cutthroat business, getting shipped off to a less desirable location \u2014 sometimes with much higher taxes \u2014 while still playing at that discounted rate.<\/p>\n Darren Ferris, an agent who represents the likes of Mitch Marner, Bowen Byram and Sam Bennett, joined The PuckPedia Hockey Show<\/a>, where he touched on the topic.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you don\u2019t have a no-move, it makes no sense (to take less),\u201d he said. \u201cYou could sign a deal in Florida and end up in New York state, and then your salary\u2019s a lot different.\u201d<\/p>\n Stability<\/p>\n According to data listed on the NHL media site, the average age of an NHL player is 28.6.<\/p>\n That\u2019s significantly older than the average in both the NBA (26.4, according to The Hoops Geek<\/a>) and the NFL (26.6, per JokerMag<\/a>). MLB players come in slightly below NHLers at 28.5, according to Statista<\/a>.<\/p>\n Older players are more likely to have spouses and children, which complicates moving significantly. A single, childless player can move with relative ease. He\u2019s only packing the belongings of one person, and his teammates form a built-in social network in his new city. His biggest inconvenience might be finding the new stadium on his maps app.<\/p>\n A family man, on the other hand, has to make arrangements for countless items to be moved; His kids have to adjust to a new school; His spouse has to find new friends.<\/p>\n For that reason, it\u2019s likely that the average NHL player values guaranteed stability more than those in other leagues. Stability is only guaranteed if you negotiate it into your contract.<\/p>\n Does the NHL have a trade protection problem?<\/p>\n Recently, a trend has taken over the NHL: Using your trade protection to control your precise landing spot.<\/p>\n A player will commit to a team on a long-term contract, and the team will give him a no-movement clause as a commitment to not trade him. If the player changes his mind a few years into the deal, he will go back on his commitment and demand a trade.<\/p>\n The problem is that the team is still obligated to keep its no-movement commitment, meaning the player can tell the team exactly where to trade him. If the team opts not to trade him, things get awkward really quickly.<\/p>\n The Deseret News wrote on this in detail<\/a> earlier in the summer.<\/p>\n It worked for Brady Tkachuk this summer when he forced his way to the Florida Panthers to play alongside his brother, Matthew. Dylan Larkin is trying to do the same, giving the Detroit Red Wings a list of four teams to which they can trade him. <\/p>\n Zach Weresnki reportedly tried to pull a similar maneuver, but he and the Columbus Blue Jackets have since announced<\/a> that he will stay put.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t a new concept.<\/p>\n Jarome Iginla, for example, did it when he went to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2013, much to the chagrin<\/a> of the Boston Bruins. Claude Giroux did the same<\/a> in 2022 to land with the Panthers. But when so many stars do it at the same time, with the same handful of destinations on their lists, it makes a joke out of the NHL\u2019s parity.<\/p>\n Many have suggested that the league should step in and adjust its rules in the next collective bargaining agreement \u2014 perhaps a stipulation that if you ask for a trade, you lose the right to control your landing spot.<\/p>\n Others want to see a limit imposed on how many NMCs and NTCs each team is allowed to give out.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s why that will never happen.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not as simple as creating a new rule. CBA negotiations involve a certain amount of give-and-take between the league and the players\u2019 association. If the NHL wants to limit a player\u2019s rights, it will come at the cost of something the players want.<\/p>\n Trade protection just isn\u2019t a big enough issue for the league to give something up.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6HIOZHE2AFAIFB5XWFJZLIKBMY.jpg\")
Detroit Red Wings center Dylan Larkin celebrates his goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Detroit. | Paul Sancya, Associated Press <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Put yourself in Nate Schmidt\u2019s shoes for a moment. At age 25, you\u2019re ripped away from the only…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":860702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82,765],"class_list":["post-860701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-utah-mammoth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}