Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas on the 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – Couple Clubs Reach Their Tipping Point episode, on the Boston Bruins pending UFA forward Trent Frederic.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Friedman: “You know, Trent Frederic, this is the thing I’m always careful about. Like I marked up one thing in Boston already. So, you know, I’m I, I don’t like doing that, and so you always try to be more careful. You know, I said earlier on, Marchand was getting close to a three-year deal, and that obviously hasn’t happened.”
But, you know, Frederic, it depends on who you talk to. You know, there are definitely some teams out there that feel that the Bruins and Frederic won’t be able to get a deal done.
NHL Rumors: Nashville Predators, Buffalo Sabres, and the Vancouver Canucks
But I was really warned about saying that, because, as I said on the air on Saturday night, there’s no deadline right now. The true deadline probably isn’t until the trade deadline, and things can change between here and there. Situations change. People, you know, the people talk a tough game, maybe a little bit sooner, but that’s when you really have to make a decision.
And sometimes people say, You know what, kind of happy here. Or maybe, No, I’m okay with my decision. But there’s a, there’s uncertainty about whether or not the Bruins are actually going to be able to get Frederic done.
Like one of the things that Don Sweeney said, if you go back to that beginning of the year media conference, the one with where they talked about the Swayman offer that made such huge news, was he said, we started talking to our other free agents.
And so we know they were talking to Marchand, it hasn’t happened yet. And we knew they were talking to Frederic, and it hasn’t happened yet. So there’s a little bit of uncertainty.
And he’s the kind of player that playoff teams are going to want. They’re really going to want a guy like that. He’s, he’s a good teammate. He’s competitive. I know in Winnipeg, they weren’t happy with him last week, and to be honest, I wasn’t crazy about that either. But generally, he’s a very popular teammate and a willing combatant.
And so I think there’s a lot of interest in him. And, you know, I had one, after I reported that on Saturday night, someone called me on Sunday and said, ‘Go back and look at his best game of the year. He had two goals in the game against the Blues.’ And he’s a St Louis guy. His family are St Louis people. Really nice people. I met them during the Stanley Cup final in 2019. And so, like, there’s a lot of people kind of wondering if that’s what’s in his future.
But, you know, there’s a lot of time between now and then, and we’ll see where it goes. But whatever the Bruins intentions are here, they are getting a lot of calls about him.”
Bukauskas: “Gotcha, yeah, and I can see it, I mean, and he also does scream Bruin.”
Friedman: “Yeah, he sure does.”
NHL Rumors: The Wheels Have Fallen Off in New York
Bukauskas: “Got the St Louis ties, which totally makes sense. And business comes into play at some point too. But as you love to say, like that guy’s a Bruin.”
Friedman: “Screams Bruin.”
Friedman: “Screams Bruin.”
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s new and we’re just getting started. Rumor roundups and hot topics from around the league.
