Halak and Boudreau butt heads on Saturday night.

Although it does happen from time to time it is relatively rare to see a head coach and a player clash during a live National Hockey League game. Even when there is a clear conflict between a player and the coaching staff those issues are usually dealt with behind closed doors, but every now and then they do get caught by the watchful eyes of the many cameras that overlook games in the NHL.

On Saturday night fans who tuned into the game between the Vancouver Canucks and the Calgary Flames got to witness one such clash when veteran Canucks backup goaltender Jaroslav Halak appeared to take exception to a decision made by Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau. Boudreau appeared to inform Halak that he was putting him into the game on Saturday night after Canucks starting netminder Thatcher Demko had allowed 4 goals on just 29 shots, good for an .862 save percentage, and for whatever reason that rubbed Halak the wrong way.

The cameras were rolling when the decision was announced to Halak and the 36 year old veteran of over 550 NHL games could be seen openly arguing with his head coach behind the bench. It was a strange scene to behold, but following the cameras catching the heated exchange NHL insider Elliotte Friedman revealed that other outside factors involving Halak could have made the situation much worse than it otherwise would have been.

"There's a sub plot here," said Friedman on Saturday night. "This is what I think has been going on in Vancouver, Halak hasn't played a lot. I think they've been trying to get him to waive his no trade clause. His contract is structured now so that he hit his bonuses, so there's an overage coming next year and the question is are the Canucks gonna pay it or are they gonna be able to trade him to a team that might agree to do it? But Halak hasn't been willing to waive, the Canucks have tried to get him to waive and as a result he hasn't played a lot."

Friedman went on to add that he believes Halak feels disrespected by the Canucks organization, something that would clearly have added fuel to the fire when it comes to him butting heads with the head coach behind the bench.

"I think he was hoping he was gonna play tomorrow and now he thinks he's losing that. I'm really curious to see how this is gonna unfold now over the next 24 to 48 hours cause he's thinking he's being disrespected. Whether he is or isn't, he's thinking that."

As I've stated Halak is a veteran of over 550 NHL games and this was somewhat out of character for him, which would suggest to me that Friedman may be onto something with his hypothesis regarding Halak feeling a lack of respect from the Canucks organization.

While Friedman's comments appear to indicate he believes this could lead to a trade, I simply don't see a conflict of this nature leading to Halak doing the Canucks a favor by waiving his no trade clause prior to Monday's NHL trade deadline.