Looking ahead to next offseason, the Carolina Hurricanes are all but guaranteed to lose a quality player in the expansion draft. However, Jordan Staal’s no-move clause could take away Carolina’s option to choose, at least to an extent, who they’d be willing to lose.
Staal is the only player on Carolina’s roster with a no-move clause, which is unfortunate, given that his deal is likely the most overpriced contract on the roster. This means that if he was left unprotected, it’s very unlikely that he’d be selected by Seattle.
If Staal was to waive his no-move clause, the Hurricanes could potentially protect four forwards and four defensemen as part of their protection list. However, if Staal doesn’t waive it, the Hurricanes will need to protect him and would almost certainly be stuck protecting seven forwards and three defensemen, in order to keep Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, Teuvo Teravinen and Vincent Trocheck safe.
This would mean that while they could protect two of Jesper Fast, Warren Foegele and Morgan Geekie, they’d be leaving Jake Bean, Haydn Fleury and Brady Skjei exposed. Though two of Bean, Fleury and Skjei are likely to be left exposed to begin with, it would eliminate the option for the Hurricanes to make their own decision about who could be a long-term member of their top-four group.
Staal will have every right to decline to waive his no-movement clause next season and should he be asked to do so and refuse, he shouldn’t be faulted for simply exercising the rights within his contract. However, should he either choose not to waive the clause or not be asked to move it in general, Carolina will likely lose their second best left-handed defensemen.
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Here’s today’s poll questions (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Will Jordan Staal's NMC cause problems for the Hurricanes in the expansion draft?
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