The Steve Dangle Podcast: Chris Johnston on the CJ Special episode of the Dangle podcast, was asked if the Carolina Hurricanes could be a player for Connor McDavid if he goes to free agency next offseason.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Steve Dangle: “Can I throw a name out there for Connor, Carolina? They just, they feel like they always have such a solid team and like, a weird amount of cap space for a team as good as they are.”
Johnston: “Yeah, they, they have, their problem is, has been attracting those players, right? That, like, that was the problem with Mikko Rantanen. I give them credit for that set of moves. I know somehow they were taking criticism for it. First of all, I think they made out okay on net in the series of moves. Like, I don’t think they’re any further behind.
People have to remember they weren’t going to be able to sign Martin Necas either. So they traded him before that became an official problem. It was already an unofficial problem in their minds.
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You know, but Rantanen didn’t want to sign there, but they gave themselves a chance to at least sell him on it. Come hang out with our Finns a little bit. Look, it wasn’t for him. That’s, that’s totally fine. They at least put themselves in that conversation.
They wanted to make an aggressive pitch to Mitch Marner. They didn’t get a chance, right? When, when we talk about why they make the trade, Jesse, a team like Carolina, like, I don’t know what the number would have been for them, but it would have been bigger than 12 times eight. I’m sure that.
And so, and that’s where, for if you’re on the Vegas end of that, you’re just, you’re like, could they put something monster in front of him that changes his mind? Yeah, he didn’t want to come here March 7th, but when there’s this dollar figure attached to it, maybe, I mean, again…”
Wylde: “Yeah, if you get a Leon Draisaitl-type number, you kind of like, yeah.”
Jesse Blake: “Maybe it sways Mitch’s mind.”
Johnston: “You don’t have to live there forever, wherever there is, right? You have to remember all these players careers are relatively short.”
Wylde: “Yep.”
Johnston: “And you make all that money, and then you live where you want to live the rest of the time.”
Dangle: “Every place is probably a good place to make $14 mill.”
Wylde: “Yeah.”
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Johnston: “And I know you guys have been playing the no-trade game. There really aren’t any bad places to live in the NHL. Like every city has, when you’re making this kind of money, there’s, there’s a reason to live in every of the 32 markets.”
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