from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,

While the league’s head office says absolutely zero conversations have happened yet on this front, it hasn’t stopped front-office executives from the 30 teams from pondering what’s ahead, and in some cases somewhat nervously.

As one executive opined to me recently, if the league is asking for $500 million or more for an expansion fee, you better believe it will try to give that new entry a decent chance to stock its roster.

So just how many players each club will be able to protect from the expansion draft is always fascinating fodder.

But there’s a new wrinkle on the horizon that didn’t exist in the last round of expansion in 2000, when Minnesota and Columbus got teams: There has been a proliferation over the past decade of no-movement clauses in players’ contracts.

A no-move clause not only means a players’ blessing is needed for a trade, it goes a step further and prevents a club from putting him on waivers or trying any other shenanigans to get rid of said player. It’s a powerful thing to have in your contract.

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