Why the Barclay Goodrow Waiver Situation Could Come back to Bite the New York Rangers

Your New York Rangers have managed to get out from under the contract of forward Barclay Goodrow in a unique and potentially damaging way. He was placed on waivers to be later claimed by the San Jose Sharks and return to his first professional hockey club. However, the rumor from the New York Post suggests that this was not as sudden and rash as it may have seemed on the surface. This was supposedly choreographed between the two general managers.

San Jose wanted the player, but there was a problem. Barclay Goodrow has a modified no-trade clause that protects his ability to be traded to specific teams. The Sharks were believed to be on that list because they are unlikely to compete moving forward. It killed the deal in the water, except for the reason the Sharks were on his no-trade list, which is precisely why he ended up in San Jose.

San Jose had the first claim in the waivers queue, so when the Rangers put him on waivers, the Sharks could grab him without worrying about the player ending up elsewhere because San Jose had priority. It created a unique situation where the two teams could work around the player's trade protection. Still, there's potentially a detrimental cost to the reputation of the Rangers management moving forward regarding the trade protection a player has.

Waiving Goodrow was an incredibly brave move by Chris Drury, who knew that this was probably the only way to get out from under this contract without having to pay to dump it. It creates more space moving forward to allow the Rangers to explore the free-agent market and find solutions to their top six while not messing with the core of the team. Goodrow was a good bottom-six option, but his departure does not alter the future of the franchise. But it could mean free agents are less likely to sign here if their trade protection is not valued, like the Goodrow situation.