The Florida Panthers tried to trade Jason Demers to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Erik Gudbranson before Demers used his no-trade clause to shut down the deal, says George Richards of the Miami Herald.
Demers didn’t deny shutting down a trade to Vancouver back in July, and the Panthers eventually moved him to the Arizona Coyotes for forward Jamie McGinn on Sunday – with the Panthers retaining $562,500 of Demers’ salary for the next four seasons.
The 29-year-old’s modified no-trade clause allows him to submit a list of eight teams that he can block a trade to, according to CapFriendly.com.
The Panthers traded Gudbranson to the Canucks for forward Jared McCann and a second-round pick in May of 2016, as Florida looked intent on building a roster around more mobile defencemen.
With Dale Tallon reclaiming GM duties this past April (the team had been seemingly phasing out the veteran executive), Florida has slowly been returning to a much more traditional look.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman even half-jokingly guessed that Tallon would try to re-acquire Gudbranson back in June.
The 25-year-old is a big-bodied blueliner who can reliably clear the front of the net while providing toughness to a lineup.
He was drafted by Florida third overall in 2010 and has 12 goals and 49 points in 339 career NHL games.
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