I don't understand this move. A player wants to be traded - clearly he does not want to be there. Why bother signing him? In any other industry if an employee expresses disinterest in their job, I don't see the company putting further investment in him/her. Wouldn't the Leafs be better to just bury him in the minors? If no other team wants him, doesn't that say something as well?
The Leafs seem to cave in to these players' demands. I remember Nylander asking for 8 million years ago...and I thought it was nuts he did this before he proved his worth. The Leafs (Dubas) capitulated and paid him that. I thought out of principle alone, I would have never given him that based on his demands, whether he deserved it or not.
Seems like in recent times in various sports now there is an increasing trend of players under contract who express to their team they want to be traded. If it is a free agent year or a contract yet, I get that, but I don't understand why teams would sign a player who doesn't want to be there. The only thing I can think of is that maybe giving them a different role, etc. may change their mind, but I don't like the player's mentality to begin with and most employers would not look on favour on employees who express an interest to be elsewhere. What am I missing here?
