When Will Mason McTavish Sign His New Deal? If He Does and Why the Hold Up?
Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period joined TSN Radio in Montreal and was asked about Mason McTavish and why his extension has yet to be signed with the Anaheim Ducks.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Host: “The Anaheim Ducks have been collecting New York Rangers players with the acquisitions of Jacob Trouba and Chris Kreider. Everyone here in Montreal, though, is curious as to why restricted free agent Mason McTavish hasn’t signed yet.”
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Dave Pagnotta: “Well, and this is something that I guess I first reported on July 1, after they made some changes and some additions to their roster. Whilst having contract talks with McTavish, who’s an RFA, it seems to be hesitancy on the player side based on just the uncertainty of what his role is and how that role is going to evolve with (Joel) Quenneville now behind the bench.
He likes his veterans. They added some pieces. Obviously, they added (Mikael) Granlund as well. They’ve got a good blend, a good mix of veterans and young studs coming up, and McTavish is part of that.
But there was some worry in July about what his usage is going to be and how his development is going to be affected by that. And I think that’s why his name has been out there. I know they’ve been having talks with other teams. I’m not anticipating anything along the lines of an offer sheet or anything to that extent. I didn’t think that was going to be the case. When we first got wind of this, the Ducks have way too much power in that respect, financially, to match pretty much anything.
So if there is a threat of anything, it’s really just on the trade front, and from the Duck side of things, there hasn’t been a clear indication, and granted, it’s been the summer, and conversations have fluctuated throughout the summer for a number of teams across the board, not just related to exclusively McTavish, but just trying to get a sense of what they are looking for and what areas they want to improve on. Is it the back end? Is it comboing and packaging up the McTavish with other assets to bring in a bigger impact type addition?
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Yeah, I’m not quite sure at this stage, but I think the Ducks obviously would like to keep him. They prefer that, and they control him because of his RFA status. But I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that if the right offer presented itself, Pat Verbeek and his staff would shy away from moving Mason McTavish.”
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