New York Rangers general manager Chris Drury had to think outside of the box in his quest to jettison forward Barclay Goodrow, who had a 15-team no-trade clause that essentially cut the number of teams the Rangers could offload him to in half.
The San Jose Sharks were on that no-trade list, as confirmed by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on “The Jeff Marek Show,” which is why the Rangers placed the 31-year-old forward on waivers on Tuesday. That allowed him to be claimed by the Sharks, who were first in waiver priority after finishing as the worst team in the NHL regular season.
Though he had a down season in 2023 (four goals, 12 points in 80 games), Goodrow is still a serviceable bottom-six player. He’s just two years removed from a career-high 33 points, and he adds value to a team needing a physical forward who can hit, kill penalties and provide veteran leadership to the locker room.
The move was a brilliant way for Drury to do Sharks GM and close friend Mike Grier a solid while coming up with a creative workaround to move Goodrow and his $3.64 million cap hit.
Friedman noted, however, that the maneuver had Goodrow fuming.
“I think there’s two things in play here from Goodrow’s point of view,” Friedman said. “No. 1, San Jose was on his no-trade list. I’m sure of that now. That’s one of the things that bothered him. … I think the other thing here is…I’ve heard one of the reasons he’s upset is he didn’t find out until right before he was put on waivers. So, I think that’s the issue here.”
Ultimately, Goodrow's no-trade clause did him little favor. And he'll surely remember the ugly departure whenever he takes the ice against his old team next season.
