Tkachuk, Werenski, Larkin, Hellebuyck: Gary Bettman Doesn't Like Where No-Trade Clauses Are Headed

A no-trade clause used to be a shield. Gary Bettman thinks players have started using it as a steering wheel, and he said Thursday that he doesn't like it.

Speaking on Sportsnet 590 in Toronto, the NHL commissioner said trade protection was built to protect a player who signed long term, sometimes at a hometown discount, from being moved somewhere he never agreed to go. What he sees now is players asking for trades and then using the clause to choose the destination.

This notion now, where you can select where you want to go to and you can demand a trade, that was never the original intention.

A summer full of examples

He didn't have to look far. Ottawa said Brady Tkachuk used his no-movement clause to force a trade to Florida, where his brother Matthew plays. Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski reportedly told the Blue Jackets he wouldn't re-sign when his deal ends in 2028, then blocked a trade to Dallas. Detroit captain Dylan Larkin asked to be moved and narrowed his list to three teams. And Winnipeg suspended goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who has a no-movement clause, after he asked for a trade and didn't report to camp.

"I don't think it's good for the player, the club or the fans' connection to the game," Bettman said.

One player agent told ESPN the shift is part of a broader push by players to control their careers, and that it spreads quickly. Once one client uses a clause that way, the agent said, you almost feel obligated to raise it with the next unhappy client who has one.

Not a fight yet

Bettman stopped short of calling it a crisis. "I don't think one offseason a problem makes," he said, but if it becomes one, the league will take it to the players' association.

There's no natural deadline to force that conversation. The new collective bargaining agreement took effect last month and runs until Sept. 15, 2030, so any change would have to be negotiated in the middle of it.