As the Toronto Maple Leafs look for their next GM, one thing is clear: the new GM can't hand out no-trade or no-movement clauses like they're candy.
One of the first things the Toronto Maple Leafs' next GM will need to address is the team's roster flexibility.
For far too long, the Maple Leafs have allowed their players to have far too much control over their long-term future by handing out way too many no-move clauses or no-trade clauses — and it has effectively painted them into a Blue and White corner.
That needs to stop.
Over the years, Leafs management has handed out NMCs and NTCs like they were candy at Halloween. When you look at Toronto's current roster, it's stunning to see the lack of control Maple Leafs management has created for itself in dictating the future of its players.
Right now, the Leafs have a whopping 12 players with either an NMC or an NTC.
You can understand why star forwards such as Auston Matthews and William Nylander have one. You can even understand why veteran center John Tavares has one. After all, those players are part of the core.
But what we don't understand is why center Max Domi has a no-trade clause – even if it's only a modified one. Nor do we understand why bottom-six winger Dakota Joshua has one. Or how a frequent healthy scratch, Calle Jarnkrok, managed to get one.
Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs have gifted an NTC or NMC to five of their top six defensemen. That's right, almost their entire group of blueliners on any given night has some degree of control over where they can get moved.
At best, these are mostly mid-tier players, so it makes little sense why they were given this kind of leverage. Meanwhile, it has taken away any leverage from the next GM.
Instead of coming in and cleaning house, the next GM effectively will have handcuffs on when it comes to making roster moves.
The Leafs are not the only team whose roster has an alarming number of no-trade clauses.
The Florida Panthers have 10 players with NMCs or NTCs, although one of them is held by goalie Sergei Bobrovsky on his expiring contract. The Tampa Bay Lightning have 13 players with NMCs or NTCs, although three are held by players on expiring contracts. And the Vegas Golden Knights have 14 players with NMCs or NTCs, with three on expiring deals.
But at least the Panthers, Lightning and Golden Knights have won Stanley Cups with most of the players they've given these clauses to. The Leafs, which missed the playoffs this year, haven't even advanced past the second round since 2002.
Yet, they've nonetheless robbed themselves of the kind of roster flexibility they will need if they hope to get back into the playoffs next season or beyond.
Look at the Montreal Canadiens as a team that has been managed extremely well in terms of their flexibility.
The Canadiens have only five players with some form of NMC or NTC. Two of those five players, Patrik Laine and Phillip Danault, got their modified NTCs from other teams. Meanwhile, Habs captain Nick Suzuki doesn't even have one. Neither do star wingers Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky nor defensemen Noah Dobson and Lane Hutson.
When including Ivan Demidov, who's on an entry-level contract, the Canadiens' top six scorers in the regular season don't have any trade protection.
If things should go sideways for the Habs — or if they need to make a change to address a particular roster need — GM Kent Hughes has kept open more than a few exit lanes.
The Leafs, however, appear to be on a dead-end street when it comes to roster flexibility.
It's not all bad for Toronto.
Somehow, the Leafs haven't given an NMC or NTC to Matthew Knies — at least not yet. That could change in the future, or maybe it's the beginning of a new trend for the team.
Either way, you can't change the no-move and no-trade clauses that Toronto has given out. But from this point on, any new contract the Leafs give to players can't include them. Toronto's management can't keep willingly awarding all their leverage to all their players.
It just doesn't make much sense. It never really did.
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