Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek on the 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – The Top Headlines Coming Out of the Holiday Freeze on the Matt Murley rumor that Elias Pettersson wants to play with Connor Bedard in Chicago.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Marek: “Matt Murley and Elias Pettersson rumor about him going to Chicago to play with Connor Bedard. Now, Murley did mention as well that Elias Patterson was a restricted free agent. So this isn’t going to play out the year I’m going to walk away.
Friedman: “Maybe Chicago is gonna offer sheet him.”
Marek: (laughs) “Is just going to be a steady stream of Pettersson.”
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Friedman: “Well, that’s, that’s what I’d like to talk about when it comes to this. And you know the one thing I’m always careful about is, you hear a lot of things at this time of year and he kind of bank them, right? Because people’s feelings in December, on December 29th. And happy birthday to my longtime close friend Jeff Aries, who turns 54 today.
But people’s feelings on December 29th could be very different than their feelings at the end of April or even in June or July. Like and no better. no better example is Winnipeg. How many people thought that this year Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele a year, at this point last year would be signing twin seven-year deals in Winnipeg? Very few. almost…”
Marek: “I knew, I knew, I think I mentioned it a lot. I think, I think I mentioned on radio
Friedman: “I think you were right on top of it.
Marek: “Yeah. All over that.”
Friedman: “So like feelings changed. I’m always aware of that. Circumstances change, feelings change. The other one thing I’ll say about Matt Murley, I listen to Matt Murley’s work. Like he’s, he’s not an idiot. He like, he hears things. I’ve, I’ve seen the stuff that he reports. He gets information. People talk to him.
I would say about this one. I think it’s premature but what I would say is that there’s one person who can stop on this. And that is Petterson.
And, you know, the thing about this is, I believe the Vancouver Canucks have decided that when Patterson is ready, they’re gonna throw a significantly sized bag of cash at him. One that might have trouble fitting into a small SUV but not a GMC. It’ll fit into there. No problem.
I think the Canucks have made the decision. They’re going to do this. And I think what they’re doing is they’re waiting for Patterson to say, ‘Okay, I’m ready.’ And what happens, is especially in a market like Vancouver in a vacuum, this is what happens. And that’s life in the big city.
Like I had some people say to me today, like this isn’t fair. They’re, they’re approaching 50 points. They’re having a great year. You know, why is this a thing? I said it’s a thing because that’s what hockey fans do.
You know, there’s a big debate right now around the NBA. They just got clobbered in their Christmas Day ratings by the NFL. And what does this all mean? It was the ratings that launched a billion think pieces today. And I was watching some of the debates on Twitter and again, I stand your standard disclaimer, Twitter is not a true picture of the world. But I saw a very interesting debate about how someone said, you know, I think the NBA would be better off if there was more analysis about the games, then talk about who’s leaving what team or who’s gonna play somewhere next year.
And to be honest, Jeff, this is bad for me. But sometimes I’ve wondered if that’s the same thing that hockey deals with too. Would we be better off if there was less of that kind of talk in the games? And someone made the point, he said look like everything we do, I can’t watch the website it was but everything we do on our website that’s analysis versus everything we do that’s about a player personnel move or a trade or contract. He said the traffic of it, and the viral nature on social dwarfs analysis.
And I get that. I understand that when I write a 32 Thoughts blog, and there’s less trade rumors on it, I get people to say to me, give me more trade rumors like the Christmas one. The pre-Christmas 32 Thoughts I really tend to tone down because a few years ago, I had a player who said I ruined his family Christmas by putting something in there and I am not completely heartless. I am sensitive to that.
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But my point is, is that it probably isn’t something that’s on Patterson’s mind right now. But because he’s a star and a franchise cornerstone and because of where he plays, that’s life in the big city. And you know, I think Pettersen, I really love dealing with Pettersen, I’ve really enjoyed my conversations with him. I think he would hate that on December 29th, with the Canucks in first place, that this is a thing. If I’m wrong, I’m sure at some point, he’ll tell me.
I guarantee you though, he hates that this is a thing. However, the only person who can put a stop to this is him by saying either, okay, we’re going to negotiate or we’re punting this until the end of the season. And if you punts it until the end of the season, then, you know, like, because someone was saying to me today, he made the, when we did the interview in Stockholm, Jeff, he said, I want to make sure we can win. Their first in the league right now. Chicago is the opposite of first in the league. But you know, with Bedard, they’re gonna be good for a long time once they get him a better supporting cast.
It’s just like, you know, like that people are gonna throw that and say, Hey, you said you want to win or the Canucks are winning, whatever the case is. Patterson’s the one guy you can put an end to all this. And he’s got to decide, when does he want to do it?
Like the thing in Toronto, (William) Nylander. Nylander came out in his interview with us and he said, ‘I am not going anywhere else. I don’t want to go anywhere else.’ And that’s why I still believe this is going to work out and I think that that will get done at some.
Because we’re not sure yet about Pettersen, this is what comes out of it.”
Marek: “So brace yourselves, folks. There’s more coming.”
