Hi all,
This question is surely very naive: Could a player who absolutely wants to be traded, take the case of Petry (and possibly Gallagher) in Mtl, agree with his current team to re-open his contract and cut his salary by a million or two to make himself more attractive to other teams?

Nope, unlike other sports, you can’t restructure/renegotiate deals

no. not allowed under cba. next best thing is mutual contract termination then sign a new contract.

thanks A_Habs_fan and DirtyDangle.
I guess there is no example that this option (mutual termination and new contract) ever happened? Seems unlikely.

The best you’ll get is buyout then new contract ( Micheal Stone )

Tell me how that’s not cap circumvention?

They bought him out during the buyout period and then signed him at league min, that’s technically not cap circumvention ( I’d argue the Caps trading Orpik, then after the other team buys him out, immediately sign him is more cap circumvention than that ) but it’s perfectly legal, you bought-out the player legally but buy-out doesn’t mean you don’t want to keep the player at a cheaper price