NHL Growing Concerned With Surge In Superstar Trade Requests
Daly Puts The League's Concern On Record
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly addressed the issue while meeting with reporters at the Player Media Tour earlier this month, and Daily Faceoff's Matt Larkin published his full comments this week.
"Certainly there's some sentiment in the league that has concerns with respect to the way things are evolving," Daly said. "There are several separate but somewhat related elements to that in our collective bargaining agreement. And depending on how this trend evolves, perhaps at some point in collective bargaining, they'll have to be addressed in a different way than they're being addressed now."
The list of examples this offseason alone is striking.
Dylan Larkin requested a trade from Detroit in June and still has five seasons remaining on his contract.
Connor Hellebuyck did the same in Winnipeg, also with five years left on his deal, and was ultimately suspended after refusing to report to training camp.
Add in Brady Tkachuk's departure from Ottawa, and even Quinn Hughes' trade request out of Vancouver last season.
The Ottawa Senators are reportedly planning a tribute video for Brady Tkachuk despite his trade request 😳
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) September 3, 2026
Is this the right move? 🤔 (via @SunGarrioch) pic.twitter.com/pQeYSDHXsf
Daly was clear that any real fix is a long way off. The current CBA runs through 2030, and he does not expect the trade-request issue to be addressed before the next round of collective bargaining begins.
Players See It Differently
Not everyone views the trend as a problem.
Jack Eichel, whose own 2021 trade request from Buffalo stemmed from a medical disagreement over disk-replacement surgery, defended the practice. "It's important for guys, players, for us to be the commander of your own ship," Eichel said. "We only get a crack at this career one time. Sometimes you're your biggest advocate in those situations."
The Jets have received "terrible" trade offers for Connor Hellebuyck thus far, says TSN's Darren Dreger 😳
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) September 14, 2026
Dreger also believes the three-time Vezina winner won't waive his no-trade clause to remain in Canada. #FirstUp pic.twitter.com/Z5c46n18Kg
Agent Allan Walsh made a related point about where the leverage in these situations actually comes from, noting that no-trade and no-movement clauses are freely negotiated by teams in the first place rather than something forced upon them.
"They are freely negotiated as part of NHL contracts," Walsh wrote, a reminder that any rule change limiting how those clauses function would be a big change in how teams and players negotiate going forward.
Daly's comments suggest the specific fix being discussed internally likely involves those no-trade protections themselves, though nothing concrete has been proposed publicly.
