Rumor: Travis Hamonic has blocked a trade.

Hamonic says no.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 3 years ago
Rumor: Travis Hamonic has blocked a trade.
Candice Ward-USA TODAY Sports

Although the weeks leading up to the National Hockey League trade deadline are some of the most exciting each and every year for hockey fans, often times the exact opposite is true for the actual players in the league. Of course being traded from a bottom feeding team to a Stanley Cup contender is often a blessing, players are often moved in the opposite direction as well and that is no doubt devastating. 

As a result players over the years have negotiated for more and more trade protection in their contracts and this has resulted in more and more trades falling apart because a certain player refuses to go play for a certain team. It is a relatively rare occurrence to be sure, the most notable one that comes to mind from recent memory was then Pittsburgh Penguins forward Phil Kessel blocking a trade to the Minnesota Wild, but it does happen and apparently it happened this week.

On Saturday NHL insider Elliotte Friedman revealed that at least one team had come calling about veteran Vancouver Canucks defenseman Travis Hamonic, but he also went on to reveal that Hamonic himself had put an end to any hope of the trade ever being consummated.

"I said earlier this week that I think there is an Eastern Conference team that had asked about Hamonic, I believe that team was Carolina," said Friedman during his weekly Headlines segment. "Carolina is looking for a right hand shot defenseman that fits Hamonic's mould, somebody along those lines. I think they did ask the Canucks about Hamonic, but Hamonic as we all know prefers to stay locally to Western Canada. He's isn't going and he's not going to be waiving his no trade clause this season."

This indicates to me that not only did Hamonic prevent the Canucks from potentially pulli9ng the trigger on a deal with the Hurricanes, but that any hope of him being traded at all this season is simply foolish. At the end of the day however Hamonic negotiated his full no-movement clause with the Canucks prior to signing with them, and I suspect that it played a role in them signing him at a relatively cheap cap hit of just $1.25 million. But I don't think it will go over particularly well with fans in Vancouver who would love to see some kind of return instead of seeing him go to free agency at the end of the season.

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