As with most behind-the-scenes negotiations with NHL contracts, there is often nothing to report and plenty of details to pour over.
And while nothing new has surfaced with the Jacob Trouba RFA situation in Winnipeg with the Jets, there’s a lot of “there” there.
“It seems like the status quo [right now],” said Elliotte Friedman on the Headlines segment of Saturday’s Hockey Night in Canada. “Winnipeg has been very quiet, they’ve said they won’t say much. There’s been a lot of interest from Detroit, Arizona, to Florida and L.A. — teams have been kicking tires and obviously the player wants to go.”
Trouba, 22, requested a trade from the Jets in late September. His agent, Kurt Overhardt, explained that the decision was primarily based on the fact that the Jets had too many right-shot defencemen to allow his client, a righty, the proper opportunity in Winnipeg.
Overhardt’s statement: There has been no negotiation regarding the terms of a contract between our client and the Jets over the course of the last several months. The situation is not about money; it is solely about our client having the opportunity to realize his potential as a right shot NHL defenseman.
“The Jets still have a very high ask,” said Friedman. “There’s a real sense that [the Jets] want him to feel — I don’t know if pain is the right word — but ‘You’re asking out so we wanna make you wait.’ I think the Jets worry sometimes that players don’t want to play there. … If it was me and someone didn’t want to date me, I’d say thanks and move on.”
There are some similarities to the Jonathan Drouin situation in Tampa Bay last season when the player requested a trade but came back to play late in the season. Nick Kypreos cited that example and said the best thing for Trouba would be to get back in the lineup.
Overhardt went through another similar situation with his client Kyle Turris when the player was a member of the Phoenix Coyotes organization. After Turris’s trade request, he was dealt to the Ottawa Senators where he has had success.
For now, it’s a stalemate between the Jets and one of their best defencemen.
