Rumor: NHL teams approached the league about a whole new kind of trade.

It sounds like some National Hockey League teams wanted a whole new kind of trade.

ESPN insider Craig Custance has been informed by a National Hockey League source that at least one organization has approached the league about trading potential expansion slots as assets prior to the NHL Expansion Draft.

From ESPN:

According to an NHL source, at least one NHL team has approached the league about trading their protected slots, like they might trade a draft pick or prospect.

For example, let’s say the Minnesota Wild fear losing Matt Dumba in the expansion draft. They could, in theory, trade a draft pick or other asset to a team in return for a expansion draft protected slot, allowing them to protect one more player.

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That would be the theory.

It would be an insane level of excitement for fans of the game, but unfortunately according to Custance the league has wholeheartedly rejected the idea, and it sounds like money may be the root of the problem.

The NHL managed to extract $500 million from the Las Vegas Golden Knights for their expansion franchise, and their appears to be a concern that allowing these types of trades would result in a much weaker expansion draft for the Knights.

The problem here of course is if the NHL hopes to extract another $500 million from both the cities of Quebec City and Seattle, they would be better served in the long-term by protecting the interest of Las Vegas. 

“They don’t want to rock the boat on getting another $500 million,” one NHL source said as per Custance.