Burke on trying to trade for Joe Thornton and Roberto Luongo
Brian Burke: “I tried desperately to get Joe Thornton to Anaheim. I thought we beat the offer that got accepted. Mike O’Connell was the GM and we were babysitting him, checking in once a day, sometimes more …
I told OC that I would protect 5 players on my roster and he could take whoever he had ranked 6th. No restrictions. Then I’d add another roster player, a prospect, and a first. I’m still bitter we didn’t get him.”
Brian Burke: “We were all in hard on Luongo around the time when I got fired. The price would have come down to a lot but we were in the mix. They asked for Gardiner, Kadri and two firsts. Way too steep, even for @strombone1”
It’s not an easy time for pending free agents, agents and GMs
Michael Traikos of the Toronto Sun: Cutting short the NHL season won’t make life easy for pending free agents, agents, and GMs.
“It’s definitely a weird time to possibly be a free agent,” Hall recently told Sportsnet. “But there’s so much uncertainty through the league … throughout the world, really.”
A strong end of the season or playoff run could have helped the likes of Braden Holtby, Cody Ceci, and Torey Krug.
No playoff runs to boost free agent stocks and the uncertainty of next year’s salary cap is part of the reason why teams may not be extending their own free agents at the moment.
“We’re not sure what’s going to happen here,” said Tallon. I’ve talked to the agents in the past, but not for a while now. There’s so many questions. We have plans, but you’re playing fantasy.
“The league doesn’t know. The agents don’t know. We’re ready for every possibility. But the uncertainty of all this is not allowing us to move forward. There’s no closure.”