Colton Parayko no-trade clause situation a lose-lose situation for player

Everyone wants to be in the know, but what if “the know” goes too far?

Over the past 24 hours, St. Louis Blues defenseman Colton Parayko was reported as being on his way to the Buffalo Sabres. All he had to do was agree to waive his no-trade clause.

However, things started to slow down from there.

While there were multiple reports that the trade would happen, it seemed less and less likely that Parayko would green-light the deal as Wednesday night gave way into Thursday morning. The veteran defender elected not to waive his NTC.

The whole saga itself was strange, and unfortunate. Even in an age where information comes to us faster than ever, it didn’t seem right to see all the insiders reporting on a deal that needed to clear a pretty big hurdle in order for it to happen.

On Thursday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton gave their thoughts on the Parayko saga.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Who knows what side leaked this thing, but now everyone’s kind of just sitting here, tapping their fingers going, ‘Ball’s in Colton Parayko’s court.’ He waves, he’s going to Buffalo. If he says he wants to stay in St. Louis, this deal falls apart. Is this dirty business by the Blues, letting this get out before, really giving the player a proper chance to? I mean, they’re on the road in Seattle. He hasn’t even had a chance to go home and talk to his family about this.

Carter Hutton: You look at the way that this goes down. A player that gets incentivized in his contract to get a no-movement clause…that’s something that he earned. And yes, I know everyone complains about, ‘Well, everybody has a no-movement clause.’ But that’s the player’s right. Now, when the deal doesn’t work for the St. Louis Blues – and I don’t know if it’s St. Louis that leaked it or Buffalo or whoever it was, not to point fingers in that sense – but now all of a sudden you’re asked to waive your no-movement clause, not incentivized for no reason.

You go back to this deal. If he stays in St. Louis, there’s going to be people that resent him in the sense of, ‘Well, he could have made the team better. He didn’t want to do that.’ Then, you’re going to have a fan base in Buffalo who’s going to hate you. You’re going to be booed every time you touch the puck. So, it is a tricky situation. I think it’s an ugly situation for both sides. For Colton Parayko, at the end of the day, he’s got to do what’s right for him. He’s a good man. He’s a good person. He’s a hell of a hockey player. It’s a tricky situation all around.

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…