Tobias Enstrom might or might not have been asked to waive his no-movement clause by the Winnipeg Jets. No one outside of the organization and Enstrom’s camp knows because the Jets elected to not announce it publicly. This is well within their rights and does right by Enstrom, a long-time Jet who was with the team when they were known as the Atlanta Thrashers.
Enstrom had a no-movement clause negotiated into his contract so he would be able to have a say to where he is moved if the Jets would like to move him. By not saying if they asked him to waive or not, they are protecting him from those who think it is his job to put the team ahead of himself at all times. Enstrom has worked hard for the organization over the years and has earned the right to say “no, thank you” if he does not want to be exposed in the expansion draft. He is not obligated to waive the NMC and the Jets are not obligated to say if they even asked him to waive it.
This curtesy should save Enstrom what Phaneuf will probably go through when it was reported that Ottawa asked him to waive his clause and he will reportedly not do so. That is Phaneuf’s right and if he wants to stay in Ottawa or not go to Las Vegas, he can choose not to. On the other hand, Marc-Andre Fleury agreed to waive his NMC for the Vegas Golden Knights and this move leaked out. Fleury made the decision quite a while ago it seems.
Marc-André Fleury accepted the Penguins request in February to waive his no move clause for the expansion draft. Only for Las Vegas.
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) June 12, 2017
Because Fleury would not be vilified for simply acting within his rights, it is fine that it was leaked that he agreed to waive his clause all the way back in February. As for the Jets and Enstrom? We will know if they asked him or not based on who is being protected. It could very easily be reflected in which set up they go with when it comes down to who to protect. They can go with the seven forwards and three defencemen (plus a goalie) at the expense of protecting Tyler Myers or they can go with eight out players and a goalie to protect four defencemen. It seems as though the Jets told Mathieu Perreault in April that his protection hinges on how many defencemen they have to protect; particularly in relation to Enstrom’s NMC.
Just because Enstrom might have elected to not waive his NMC at this point for the Jets, it does not mean that he will not waive it in the future. All it means is that he does not want to go to Vegas and he is using his negotiated rights of a NMC to prevent the move from happening. If he does waive it and is left unprotected then it means he is okay with the move. That is his right to decide and it is the Jets right to ask and not tell the fans if they choose.
