It is the eve of NHL training camp, and player-instigated change is in the air.
A couple of star players (Quinn Hughes, Brady Tkachuk) who requested to be traded away from the teams that drafted them and crowned them captain are about to begin their first full seasons in new uniforms but on old contracts.
Two more stars — Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin and Jets MVP Connor Hellebuyck — have publicly requested trades despite each owing five more seasons to the clubs that re-signed them.
Despite hoisting the Stanley Cup, unsigned RFA Alexander Nikishin reportedly requested a trade away from the Hurricanes over the off-season.
Goal machine Cutter Gauthier, another RFA, remains in a stalemate with the Ducks, the team to which he forced a trade away from Philadelphia — the city that drafted him and signed Anaheim’s Leo Carlsson to an offer sheet that has stressed the Gauthier file.
And the Blue Jackets’ leading goal scorer and impending RFA, Kirill Marchenko, has already signalled his desire to bolt from Columbus despite GM Don Waddell holding the forward’s rights beyond 2027.
Most NHLPA members we’ve spoken to stand, at least publicly, supportive of this recent trend of players trying to guide their own careers.
Gabriel Landeskog, however, isn’t sold.
“I don’t know if that’s great,” Landeskog told Sportsnet.ca during a sit-down at last week’s Player Media Tour in Las Vegas.
The long-serving Colorado Avalanche captain and 2026 Masterton Trophy winner is set to begin his 13th season, all in Denver.
Universally respected, Landeskog chose his words carefully and only spoke in general terms, but made his opinion clear.
Trade requests aren’t new. But the frequency of them, with significant term remaining on high-profile players’ signed deals, is a hot topic.
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NHL stars haven’t reached the NBA’s level of player control, but they’re inching closer than before.
“I’ve always felt that hockey is different that way. And maybe I’m the old-school one, I'm not sure. Like, where you’re drafted is where you’re drafted. That’s the team that believes in you. That’s where you play until you earn the right to become a free agent,” Landeskog said.
“And if you choose to become a free agent and sign somewhere else, then I think that’s your right as a player. But until then, you’re with the team that calls your name on draft day. That’s my opinion.
“But I guess I can also understand why guys would feel the right that they can kind of call the shots and demand it. When you have the leverage, you have the leverage. But it’s kind of the Wild West. It's different. It’s different.”
