Where Don't NHL Players Want To Play?

A smart idea here from ESPN's Craig Custance (Insider link), who polled 10 NHL agents to find out which teams are most commonly listed on their clients' no-trade clauses. The list is brutally unsurprising.

Nobody wants to live in the Prairies! Edmonton and Winnipeg are a runaway 1-2, even with the Jets being decent this year (maybe the city still needs more parks). Buffalo is third, just edging out Ottawa and Toronto.

"It's a running joke with some of the guys when I get their list. 'Let me predict, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Buffalo are the top three,'" said an agent.

Hockey players are human. With the rare exceptions, these are all sleepy cities with bad weather and moribund competitive prospects. (Toronto might seem like a fun place to be young and wealthy, but Olli Jokinen cottoned to the negatives pretty quickly).

I really, really want someone to do this for other sports, where we won't have Canada to throw the curve.

[ ESPN]

Edmonton photo by Peter Verboom.