The entire fiasco between the St. Louis Blues and Buffalo Sabres is something that Rangers fans can sympathize with.
On Wednesday night, reports emerged declaring that the Blues had sent Colton Parayko to the Buffalo Sabres. It seemed that only the formality of Parayko waiving his no-trade clause stood in the way of the trade.
That was it. Merely paperwork. That paperwork blew up in everyone’s face when Parayko declined to go to Buffalo. The deal is pretty much dead in the water, though there could be a chance it still goes through in the end.
Whatever the eventual outcome, the situation highlighted something Rangers fans know all too well. A player with a full no-trade clause paints his team into a corner, forcing them to cut a deal with another team just because the player wants to go there.
Those circumstances are a great way of zapping any leverage a team may have in a trade.
That’s what happened to Rangers in the Artemi Panarin trade. The Rangers could only negotiate with the teams that Panarin wanted to go to. In the end, Panarin put the Rangers in a headlock by forcing them to work out a deal with the LA Kings.
It seems Colton Parayko did the same thing to the Blues. He manacled them by forcing a deal to a specific team, evaporating whatever leverage they may have had.
At this point, the Rangers are going through a similar situation with Vincent Trocheck. The 32-year-old has made his stance clear and where he doesn’t want to go. That’s sort of painting the Rangers into a corner again.
It’s a bit of a tough reality, but Rangers fans are sort of used to this situation by now. They won’t lose any sleep at night, knowing that Trocheck can twist their arm into making the deal he wants.
Seeing a few moves ahead, GMs may become increasingly wary of giving players no-trade clauses. Seeing the complications that can lead at trade deadline time, teams may play some hardball and become reluctant to offer no-trade protection.