Forcing Players Into Different Positions

[Gilmour1996]

Do players have protection in their contracts or CBA which prevent teams from forcing them to play positions other than their first choices? ie. forcing a player who has played C all his career to now play W...telling a LW that he is now playing RW, telling a winger that he is filling in on D because of a shortage of D due to injury, telling a winger that he is now playing the point on the PP, etc. Obviously, goalies would be excluded.

Not interested in "why would any team want to do this" answers and given that this would obviously would work best with the players' co-operation, but....simply does the team legally have the right to unilaterally make these changes if they think it's best for the team?

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[STL fan in MN]

I’ve never heard of players having any sort of protection like that in their contracts.

I’ve heard of UFAs signing with one team over another because one said they could play their preferred position but there’s still no actual guarantee in writing that I’m aware of.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

You're asking two questions, both are 'No'. Teams don't 'force' players into positions and players don't have guarantees on their position or role in contracts

Some of your hypotheticals are so unrealistic to point of not being worthy to debate (Winger being asked to play D) teams have minor league clubs with reinforcements or would sign/trade for pros who play the position if came to that.

 

[Golden_Jet]

No, players have zero choice, they can give a preference, but still up to coach .

 

[57special]

Am i the only one who read the title of this thread and started thinking about something completely different?

 

[Figgy44]

Do players have protection in their contracts or CBA which prevent teams from forcing them to play positions other than their first choices? ie. forcing a player who has played C all his career to now play W...telling a LW that he is now playing RW, telling a winger that he is filling in on D because of a shortage of D due to injury, telling a winger that he is now playing the point on the PP, etc. Obviously, goalies would be excluded.

Not interested in "why would any team want to do this" answers and given that this would obviously would work best with the players' co-operation, but....simply does the team legally have the right to unilaterally make these changes if they think it's best for the team?

IIRC, when Iginla went to Pittsburgh, they decided he'd play LW instead of RW for some odd reason. I think winger/C, and swapping sides for wing or D is more common albeit relatively infrequent. I think Sutter did something similar with Huberdeau when he arrived (LW to RW) which contributed to his struggles. Feaster did this with Cervenka IIRC (play C instead of wing), but somehow Feaster claims this was a pure translation mix up and they didn't know he was a natural wing vs a centre (come on. It's called video.).

No, players don't have that written protection in AFAIK. Teams aren't doing it intentionally IMO, just based occasionally on team needs. Acquiring a guy and then forcing a situation like that because you didn't appropriately take into account positional need is just dumb asset management.

 

[HolyGhost]

Do players have protection in their contracts or CBA which prevent teams from forcing them to playbein positions other than their first choices? ie. forcing a player who has played C all his career to now play W...telling a LW that he is now playing RW, telling a winger that he is filling in on D because of a shortage of D due to injury, telling a winger that he is now playing the point on the PP, etc. Obviously, goalies would be excluded.

Not interested in "why would any team want to do this" answers and given that this would obviously would work best with the players' co-operation, but....simply does the team legally have the right to unilaterally make these changes if they think it's best for the team?

Have you played much hockey at a high level? While I never. several people who I went to uni with did and being able to play all three fwd position? is considered to be a good tool to have in your tool box. Also, watch any game where there is a lot flow and you see players playing out of position depending on where the puck is.

Unless you are talking about putting Crosby in net or something