Years ago, trade protection clauses were only built into the contracts of the very best players in the league. Now it seems half of every NHL roster has some form of trade protection included in their deal. With the NHL's tight salary cap, these trade protections can offer unique challenges for teams and their flexibility.
For the St. Louis Blues, they signed Jordan Kyrou in September of 2022 to an 8-year max term extension. Kyrou is in the first year of that deal and it now appears the Blues are already considering moving on from Kyrou. Moving on from Kyrou comes with an expiration date though because as part of his real on July 1st of next year, a 15 team no trade clause kicks in.
When the Blues signed Kyrou's deal the expectation was the forward would develop further, but that unfortunately hasn't been the case. According to Jeff Marek it now appears that Doug Armstrong is very interested in moving that contract.
This season Kyrou has 19 goals and 28 assists in 59 games. Under the terms of his current deal Kyrou has 7 years remaining at a cap hit of $8,125,000. On the podcast Marek went on to discuss how difficult it will be for the Blues to find a trade partner with available space to fit his contract.
