If his agent is any good, he'll be encouraging Sam to request a trade. But as mentioned, any agent who prefers to remain employed, would not request a trade without his client's authorization.
Also agree that Sam and agent asking to be traded is very different from pouting and demanding a trade.
In this case, I think the team has been trying to trade Sam for a while and only now has Sam indicated that he'd like it to happen sooner than later.
He's pending RFA, won't get qualified and will go UFA. He's going to take a significant pay cut if he wants to sign because nobody is signing him for $2.5m/yr. That's why he wants a trade. He'd be better off in Ottawa or some other bottom feeder where he can get minutes and an opportunity to increase his salary demand this offseason.
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