A unique situation allowed New York Islanders coach Patrick Roy and GM Mathieu Darche to speak face-to-face with recently acquired Brayden Schenn to convince him to waive his no-trade clause and accept a deal.
The NHL’s trade deadline was a relatively quiet one, with few blockbuster deals coming into fruition. However, one of the bigger trades of the day was the New York Islanders acquiring St. Louis Blues captain and center Brayden Schenn.
This trade came with a special circumstance: the Blues and Islanders were staying at the same hotel in San Jose when it went down.
On Elliotte Friedman’s ‘Saturday Headlines’ segment on Sportsnet, he shared some more details about the unorthodox process of Schenn becoming an Islander.
“The Islanders asked… ‘could we meet with Schenn, face-to-face, and talk to him about why he should join our team?’”
St. Louis’ brass, led by GM Doug Armstrong, ultimately accepted New York’s request.
Therefore, Islanders GM Mathieu Darche and coach Patrick Roy met with Schenn in person, convincing him to join Long Island.
The convincing from Darche and Roy in this situation is key, because Schenn has a 15-team no-trade clause that he needed to waive in order to join the Islanders.
Because the Blues and Islanders were in the hotel by chance, there was an opportunity that likely doesn’t happen often in the NHL.
Face-to-face meetings don’t typically happen during the trade deadline or any trade at all. On rare occasions, a player or agent will be granted permission to speak with other organizations, but that process is more commonly known during the NHL’s free agency window, when players are no longer under contract with their previous club.
While continuing to review the aftermath of Friday’s trade deadline, the Islanders seem even more fortunate and maybe even lucky that they brought in Schenn under his contractual circumstances.
Later in the same topic, Friedman added that it was a hectic few days for Armstrong and the Blues.
In addition to St. Louis defenseman Colton Parayko rejecting a move to the Buffalo Sabres, Sportsnet’s NHL insider had more to it.
“It was a crazy week in St. Louis,” Friedman said on the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast.
“Someday, we’re going to find out just how many deals out of that team were - because I don’t think Parayko was the only player that had vetoed out of there. I think there were some others.”
Several players on the Blues’ payroll have trade protection. Rumored trade candidates, such as right winger Jordan Kyrou and center Robert Thomas, have full no-trade clauses. Especially for Thomas, there were reports of teams pushing hard for him. There’s a chance he may have blocked a move or two based on Friedman’s segment.
With that, goaltender Jordan Binnington had a 14-team no-trade clause this season, meaning he very well could’ve blocked any unreported trades, too.
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