Every year, dozens of NHL players find new homes at the trade deadline.
But the Tyler Myers situation was unique.
It’s not often that we see a player with a no-movement clause get presented with a trade, and then sit out for a week to figure out what’s next.
Myers has now spoken about the bizarre situation that eventually saw him land with the Stars.
“Yeah, a little bit of a weird situation,” Myers said during his media availability with the Stars. “I’d be lying if I didn’t say it was pretty strange, but it’s just how things played out.”
“Given the situation we were in, with the no-move and everything, it gave us that opportunity to take a little time.”
“It gave us a chance to say goodbye to some guys, which I know some guys don’t get that opportunity, so that was nice,” he said.
Myers even joked with Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre that his Canucks teammates were giving him a hard time about the long, drawn-out saga.
“The guys were like, ‘You still here?’” Myers told MacIntyre.
It certainly was a little unorthodox, as we’re seeing a trend of more players with no-trade and no-movement clauses being presented with trades to consider.
Sometimes, there’s a decision to waive, as we saw with Calgary Flames defenceman MacKenzie Weegar. Other times, players take their time before invoking their no-move clause, which is what happened on Thursday with St. Louis Blues defenceman Colton Parayko.
For Myers, however, the prevailing thought based on reports was that, even though Detroit made the first offer, Myers didn’t want to go there.
“I know there were a lot of reports out there that I wasn’t willing to waive to go there, but that just wasn’t true,” he told Don Taylor and Rick Dhaliwal on Donnie and Dhali.
“Detroit was a very solid option, too.”
Myers also revealed that the Stars weren’t the only team on his radar.
“We stuck to the plan of being patient, letting it play out to see what options were out there. And obviously, three or four teams were a preference for us,” he said.
“Dallas was one of them,” he said. “When we found out that they had some mutual interest, we pushed hard to get it done.”
However, Myers made sure to reiterate that Dallas wasn’t the only option.
“It really wasn’t just about Dallas,” Myers said on Donnie and Dhali. “We just wanted to know what was going to be available so we could assess the city, how it is for family, the kids, kind of schools… we really just wanted to take the time.”
Aside from Detroit and Dallas, the Colorado Avalanche and the Anaheim Ducks were the other teams with reported interest.
As we wrote about leading up to the trade, Dallas clearly checked a lot of boxes for Myers.
He said his family still lives in Texas, where his mom resides.
Myers also has some familiar faces back in Dallas. He played his junior hockey with Stars captain Jamie Benn. Myers also mentioned that he’s excited to reunite with former Canucks goaltender Casey DeSmith.
“Casey was one of the nicest guys ever,” Myers told Stars media. “He was one of the first guys to text me.”
“Unreal guy, great family,” he said. “His wife and mine have been in contact today again. “Just shows the type of guy he is, what he was here in Vancouver. Excited to be teammates again.”
The Stars also give Myers a chance to win a Stanley Cup. That was certainly one of the reasons why he was open to a trade.
“We didn’t want to pass up on an opportunity just because of comfortability,” he said.
Of course, it wasn’t that long ago that Myers thought the Canucks had a chance to win a Stanley Cup, before Vancouver came crashing back down to earth after the high of 2024.
“It happens with every team,” Myers reflected. “You lose some guys, you add some guys. Sometimes it works out, and you have a really good fit, and then sometimes it goes the other way.”
“I know things can turn really fast back the other way, too.”
The 36-year-old defenceman doesn’t have to worry about that anymore as he joins a Cup-contending team in Dallas.
Myers has been in the postseason seven times in his 17-year NHL career. He’s only advanced past the second round once, back in 2018 with the Winnipeg Jets.
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