The following players have some form of trade protection for the duration of the 2025-26 league year, according to PuckPedia.
Trade protection comes in three forms: no-movement clauses (NMCs), no-trade clauses (NTCs), and modified no-trade clauses (M-NTCs). No-movement clauses are blanket protection save for buyouts, so the player is also protected against a waiver placement and subsequent AHL assignment unless they approve it.
No-trade clauses limit a team from trading a player to any other club without their approval, but if they’re trying to send a player somewhere where he won’t approve a deal, the team can still waive the player and have the team in question claim them.
Modified no-trade clauses do not prevent all trades. Players can submit a trade list with a preset number of teams, which is either in the form of a no-trade list or an approved trade list. The former is far more common. If a player has an approved trade list, the number of teams they can be traded to is asterisked. If there is no asterisk, the number of teams they can block a trade to is shown next to their name in parentheses.
NMCs and M-NTCs can be combined to provide guardrails for discussions when a team is approaching a player about waiving their NMCs. No-move and no-trade clauses can also differ over the life of a contract, or sometimes, mid-season. Only players who would otherwise be eligible for UFA status are eligible for trade protection.
Anaheim Ducks
NMCs: none
NTCs: Mikael Granlund
M-NTCs: Radko Gudas (10), Alex Killorn (15), Chris Kreider (15), Troy Terry (10), Jacob Trouba (12), Frank Vatrano (7)
Boston Bruins
NMCs: Viktor Arvidsson, Elias Lindholm, Hampus Lindholm, Charlie McAvoy, David Pastrnak
NTCs: Tanner Jeannot, Nikita Zadorov
M-NTCs: Henri Jokiharju (8), Joonas Korpisalo (10), Pavel Zacha (8)
Buffalo Sabres
NMCs: Rasmus Dahlin
NTCs: none
M-NTCs: Jordan Greenway (5), Tage Thompson (5), Alex Tuch (5), Jason Zucker (5)
Calgary Flames
NMCs: Mikael Backlund, Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri
NTCs: MacKenzie Weegar
M-NTCs: Rasmus Andersson (6), Backlund (15, begins Jan. 1), Blake Coleman (10*), Yegor Sharangovich (10)
Carolina Hurricanes
NMCs: Sebastian Aho, Frederik Andersen, William Carrier, Jalen Chatfield, Nikolaj Ehlers, Taylor Hall, Jaccob Slavin, Jordan Staal
NTCs: none
M-NTCs: Andersen (20), Shayne Gostisbehere (15), Jordan Martinook (10), Eric Robinson (8), Andrei Svechnikov (10*), Sean Walker (15)
Andersen’s M-NTC reduces to a five-team no-trade list on Feb. 23 if he does not play in at least 33% of the Hurricanes’ regular season games by Feb. 15.
Chicago Blackhawks
NMCs: none
NTCs: none
M-NTCs: Tyler Bertuzzi (10), Andre Burakovsky (10), Ryan Donato (10), Ilya Mikheyev (12), Connor Murphy (10), Teuvo Teravainen (8)
Colorado Avalanche
NMCs: Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon, Devon Toews
NTCs: Brock Nelson
M-NTCs: Mackenzie Blackwood (6), Ross Colton (12), Samuel Girard (9), Artturi Lehkonen (12), Landeskog (12), Josh Manson (12), Valeri Nichushkin (12), Logan O’Connor (6)
Columbus Blue Jackets
NMCs: Charlie Coyle, Sean Monahan, Ivan Provorov, Zach Werenski
NTCs: Damon Severson
M-NTCs: Coyle (3), Erik Gudbranson (10), Boone Jenner (8), Elvis Merzlikins (10), Mathieu Olivier (10), Miles Wood (6)
Dallas Stars
NMCs: Jamie Benn, Matt Duchene, Miro Heiskanen, Roope Hintz, Mikko Rantanen, Tyler Seguin
NTCs: Esa Lindell
M-NTCs: none
Detroit Red Wings
NMCs: none
NTCs: Patrick Kane, Dylan Larkin
M-NTCs: Ben Chiarot (10), J.T. Compher (10), Andrew Copp (10), Alex DeBrincat (16), John Gibson (10), Justin Holl (10)
Edmonton Oilers
NMCs: Leon Draisaitl, Trent Frederic, Adam Henrique, Zach Hyman, Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Darnell Nurse
NTCs: Andrew Mangiapane
M-NTCs: Mattias Janmark (10)
Florida Panthers
NMCs: Aleksander Barkov, Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, Gustav Forsling, Seth Jones, Brad Marchand, Sam Reinhart, Matthew Tkachuk, Carter Verhaeghe
NTCs: none
M-NTCs: Sergei Bobrovsky (16), Reinhart (16)
Los Angeles Kings
NMCs: Kevin Fiala, Anze Kopitar
NTCs: none
M-NTCs: Cody Ceci (10), Phillip Danault (10), Drew Doughty (7*), Brian Dumoulin (10), Joel Edmundson (10), Warren Foegele (5), Adrian Kempe (10), Darcy Kuemper (10)
Minnesota Wild
NMCs: Joel Eriksson Ek, Marcus Foligno, Kirill Kaprizov, Jacob Middleton, Mats Zuccarello
NTCs: none
M-NTCs: Eriksson Ek (10), Filip Gustavsson (5), Ryan Hartman (15), Jared Spurgeon (10), Vladimir Tarasenko (8*)
Montreal Canadiens
NMCs: Brendan Gallagher, Carey Price
NTCs: none
M-NTCs: Josh Anderson (5), Gallagher (6), Patrik Laine (10), Mike Matheson (8)
Nashville Predators
NMCs: Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi, Jonathan Marchessault, Juuse Saros, Brady Skjei, Steven Stamkos
NTCs: none
M-NTCs: Erik Haula (6), Skjei (15)
New Jersey Devils
NMCs: Jesper Bratt, Dougie Hamilton, Jacob Markstrom, Timo Meier, Ondrej Palat
NTCs: Jake Allen, Connor Brown, Evgenii Dadonov (through March 1), Brenden Dillon, Johnathan Kovacevic, Brett Pesce
M-NTCs: Dadonov (10 after March 1), Hamilton (10*), Nico Hischier (10), Stefan Noesen (10), Palat (10*), Jonas Siegenthaler (10)
New York Islanders
NMCs: Ilya Sorokin
NTCs: Anthony Duclair, Bo Horvat, Scott Mayfield, Kyle Palmieri, Ryan Pulock
M-NTCs: Mathew Barzal (22), Jonathan Drouin (16), Pierre Engvall (16), Anders Lee (15), Jean-Gabriel Pageau (16), Adam Pelech (16), Semyon Varlamov (16)
New York Rangers
NMCs: Adam Fox, Vladislav Gavrikov, J.T. Miller, Artemi Panarin, Igor Shesterkin, Mika Zibanejad
NTCs: William Borgen
M-NTCs: Jonathan Quick (20), Carson Soucy (12), Vincent Trocheck (12)
Ottawa Senators
NMCs: Claude Giroux, Brady Tkachuk, Linus Ullmark
NTCs: none
M-NTCs: Thomas Chabot (10), Lars Eller (14*), David Perron (15), Artem Zub (10)
Philadelphia Flyers
NMCs: Sean Couturier, Travis Konecny
NTCs: Travis Sanheim, Nick Seeler
M-NTCs: Dan Vladar (8)
Pittsburgh Penguins
NMCs: Sidney Crosby, Erik Karlsson, Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin
NTCs: none
M-NTCs: Noel Acciari (8), Ryan Graves (12), Kevin Hayes (12), Danton Heinen (12), Tristan Jarry (12), Rickard Rakell (8)
San Jose Sharks
NMCs: none
NTCs: John Klingberg (through Jan. 30), Dmitry Orlov, Jeff Skinner (through Jan. 30), Tyler Toffoli
M-NTCs: Logan Couture (3*), Barclay Goodrow (15), Klingberg (14 after Jan. 30), Skinner (8* after Jan. 30), Alexander Wennberg (15*)
Seattle Kraken
NMCs: Chandler Stephenson
NTCs: Jordan Eberle, Adam Larsson, Brandon Montour
M-NTCs: Joey Daccord (12), Vince Dunn (16), Frederick Gaudreau (15), Philipp Grubauer (10), Ryan Lindgren (6), Mason Marchment (10), Jared McCann (10), Jamie Oleksiak (16), Jaden Schwartz (16)
St. Louis Blues
NMCs: none
NTCs: Pavel Buchnevich, Jordan Kyrou, Colton Parayko, Robert Thomas
M-NTCs: Jordan Binnington (14), Justin Faulk (15), Cam Fowler (4*), Torey Krug (15), Brayden Schenn (15)
Tampa Bay Lightning
NMCs: Jake Guentzel, Victor Hedman, Brayden Point
NTCs: Erik Cernak, Anthony Cirelli, Yanni Gourde, Nick Paul
M-NTCs: Oliver Bjorkstrand (10), Zemgus Girgensons (16*), Nikita Kucherov (10*), Ryan McDonagh (12), Andrei Vasilevskiy (10*)
Toronto Maple Leafs
NMCs: Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Morgan Rielly, Chris Tanev, John Tavares
NTCs: Jake McCabe
M-NTCs: Brandon Carlo (8), Max Domi (13), Oliver Ekman-Larsson (16), Calle Jarnkrok (10), David Kampf (10), Anthony Stolarz (8)
Utah Mammoth
NMCs: none
NTCs: Clayton Keller, Mikhail Sergachev
M-NTCs: John Marino (8), Olli Maatta (10), Nick Schmaltz (10), Nate Schmidt (10), Brandon Tanev (10), Karel Vejmelka (10)
Vancouver Canucks
NMCs: Brock Boeser, Jake DeBrusk, Filip Hronek, Kevin Lankinen, Tyler Myers, Elias Pettersson, Marcus Pettersson
NTCs: none
M-NTCs: Teddy Blueger (12), Dakota Joshua (12), Evander Kane (16*), Drew O’Connor (12)
Vegas Golden Knights
NMCs: Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner, Alex Pietrangelo, Mark Stone
NTCs: Noah Hanifin, Brayden McNabb, Brandon Saad, Reilly Smith, Shea Theodore
M-NTCs: Ivan Barbashev (8), Tomas Hertl (3*), Adin Hill (10), William Karlsson (10)
Washington Capitals
NMCs: Jakob Chychrun, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Alex Ovechkin
NTCs: none
NMCs: John Carlson (10), Ovechkin (10), Matt Roy (15), Logan Thompson (15), Tom Wilson (14)
Winnipeg Jets
NMCs: Connor Hellebuyck, Mark Scheifele, Jonathan Toews
NTCs: none
M-NTCs: Kyle Connor (10), Dylan DeMelo (10), Adam Lowry (6), Josh Morrissey (15), Neal Pionk (15)
As if the Graves deal wasn’t bad enough for the Pens, he has limited trade protection too. Yuck
Somebody make sure Kelly McCrimmon has access to this publicly available information.
Is it just me, or are NHL teams handing out way, way, way, way too many of these clauses? It’s time to out the pause on the clause.
Some of these names with any protection are lucky to be in NHL. team actually agreed to these clauses Some of These guys are fifth/sixth defensemen or fourth line forwards.
So many non-playoff teams handing out NMC is hilarious. There are a finite number of jobs available but not only do many have to overpay to attract/keep talent, they’ve got to handcuff themselves to these players as they not-so gracefully age.
I’ve been thinking about this lately, so I appreciate the list (but not the ads blocking the content).
The real thing to consider with these clauses is expansion. If (when) it happens sooner than expected, these contracts will hamstring their teams.
By the most recent rules, they HAVE TO protect these guys unless they waive.
Also, what happens if a team can protect 10 players, but they have 12 with NTC/NMC?
Food for thought.
I have ads blocking significant portions of the article too. The zyn ad that popped up every 5 seconds and made it near impossible to read an article was bad enough, now this new one just flat out covers some content. I have no idea how ads are chosen for a given website or how anything like that works, but if its something that PHR has any type of control over, I truly hope that they do something about these intrusive ads. If the ads like this continue to get worse the site will become unreadable altogether, which would be a real shame.
We writers have no control over ad placement, but I will send a note to our dev team! If you can/are willing, send us a screenshot of the problem to phrwriters@gmail.com. That will help me out in flagging the issue.
And @Bradley B – only players with full NMCs have to be protected for expansion purposes. Players with only NTCs or M-NTCs can be exposed.
Thanks Josh, email sent.
Ah ok. I thought any trade protection was a factor. Thanks!