On the Arizona Coyotes …
Craig Morgan of Arizona Sports: Despite the rumors that they could be traded at the deadline, Shane Doan and Radim Vrbata remain with the Arizona Coyotes.
“We just made a decision that we’re sill trying to grow here and have a competitive team and finish the season well with our good young group,” Chayka said, when asked why he didn’t trade Vrbata despite widespread interest. “Unless it was a great offer, we were going to keep him. You set your threshold. We were looking around to see if we could maximize our return like any player but just decided at the end of the day to keep him.”
The Coyotes could be open to the idea of re-signing Vrbata and he’s open to the idea.
“I like being in Phoenix; I like playing for Tip. We don’t have to have that contract tomorrow or next week, but we will probably talk about it when the season is over.”
Doan never asked for a trade.
“There were only about four or five teams that I would even think about,” he said. “I appreciate that I’ve had 20 years to play with the Coyotes and I wasn’t about to throw that away. At the same time, you want the opportunity to win and if one of the situations had been perfect I might have done it.”
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Arizona Coyotes GM John Chayka was on TSN talking about the Coyotes not trading pending free agent Radim Vrbata.
“He’s a good player, that’s why he didn’t move,” Coyotes general manager John Chayka told TSN’s James Duthie after the deadline. “Like any player, he has an asset value. For us, we just kind of set a threshold of what we felt was a fair and equitable return. He’s a guy that loves to be here, wants to be here longer term even if he can.
“So for us it was just setting a threshold – if it’s not met, we’re happy to keep the player.”
Darren Dreger was on TSN 690 talking about the Coyotes, Vrbata and if they were asking too much for him?
“It depends who you ask,” said Insider Darren Dreger with a bit of a chuckle during a Thursday morning radio hit on Montreal’s TSN 690. “There’s some who are complimentary of the young general manager and then there are others who are less complimentary.
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“The Radim Vrbata non-trade surprises me. It’s a bit of a mystery. I thought that he chose his words very, very well in doing his post-deadline interview, where he said it’s all about asset allocation and they did not get the return.”
Dreger added the market for Vrbata may not have been as strong as they had though. The bonus structure that Vrbata has may have scared teams off – potentially up to $1.25 million in playoff bonuses.