You will not be able to sign virtually any top UFS or resign your own players without one. Again, in and of themselves, the clauses are not the issue. It's who you give them to and when.
I note your caution, which is not unreasonable, but to which I disagree.
Of course there are always exceptions.
But guys like Duchene, who have a rep of me first to excessive degree, I don't give a rat's rump if we get him -- on our terms -- or not.
Consider Drury. Top shelf, first class. Durable, extremely. But not indestructible. Felt bad overall, perhaps guilty about taking our $ despite injury = no one's fault. Took hi a while to hang them up.
And it is not just those above scenarios, but to have a flat across the board line. We can more than reasonably guarantee Hayes thru NTCs he controls that if he didn't want to go to Boston b'c what they did to his brother, or a couple of other places for whatever reason, his position would be more than considered.
That is reasonable and fair, and the player should be content with that.
It is neither reasonable nor fair, nor acceptable, for a player to tell the team to bend, buckle and break and say it must unconditionally accept all risk if there is a need to move him. We got Bernie Nichols, who was a nice player, but we had to move him for Messier. What if BN had a NMC? Okay, another way would have been found but who the eff is a player, any player, to dictate to a club what MUST be done in his case because he has absolute control. No. Only God is absolute, by definition.
Clubs can also be unreasonable.
I despise conservativism, for reasons I will not get into external to this thread. I am not a fan of the rigid NY Yankees policy about facial hair/hair length, which is an arguably prejudicial manifestation of same. Oscar Gamble was what he was, no more, no less with his mega-afro. And Rod Carew was an elite HOF hitter, and that would not change with how clean shaven he was or was not.
A reasonable policy by the club respecting the interests of the player without allowing the player to control is necessary and essential. It is nice that Staal has rebounded, and if Leafs unload Marleau post season for cap space, we may be able to go there --- if Marc is willing to do a season or 2 at most closer to boyhood home. But while I appreciate all Staal's service, we have been and remain at his mercy, and going forward, that just has to stop.
Players who want to be here, whether for $ or other reasons, will come. The key is to be more than reasonable by giving them more than enough they can reasonably expect for their peace of mind, while not giving any player complete and unfettered ultimate control.
thanks for the good and constructive response.
