Blockbuster trade falls apart in Canada due to young prospect’s unreasonable demands!

Things are getting messy for the Winnipeg Jets and one of their Canadian neighbours, Montreal Canadiens. Jets’ top prospect Rutger McGroarty has requested a trade and it looks like the team is trying to move him. The Habs have shown great interest, so much so that rumour has it that general manager Kent Hughes has offered Filip Mesar, a 2025 first round pick and either Justin Barron or Jordan Harris to the Jets in return for McGroarty.

However, Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Press reports that McGroarty has made unreasonable demands, “including a guarantee of substantial playing time and a role on the power-play”, conditions that led to the trade falling apart. Earlier this week, it had been mentioned that the Jets informed an interested club about the player and that team did not like what they heard from McGroarty’s camp about guarantees over ice time and a spot in the NHL. This was spoken about earlier this week on the Winnipeg Sports Talk:

I get that the kid is good, but he does not have the right to me diva demands to any club, especially one that is trying to get his wish to come true in getting out of Winnipeg.

McGroarty was the Jets’ top pick, 14th overall, in the 2022 NHL Draft and was also a Hobey Baker Award nominee. He has 91 points in 75 games with the University of Michigan in the past two seasons, and if it weren’t for his attitude issues, he would be a top target to go after.

The Canadiens may be interested in his talents, but unless McGroarty gets a better attitude, more teams linked to the young prospect will continue to reject any potential trade.