Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on the 32 Thoughts Podcast on Toronto Maple Leafs RFA defenseman Rasmus Sandin.
“This is just my opinion, but I’m kind of wondering if Rasmus Sandin is going to get settled in the near future. I just think there’s too much at stake here. I think Toronto has shown that it’s not going to bend too much. This is too big of a season for Sandin for him to miss camp. I don’t think it helps him.
If I’m Sandin, I’m looking at this saying, ‘You know, Liljegren is going to be out, hernia. You never know how those are going to be and he’s going to be playing catch up.’ Muzzin, you hope is not anything serious. The Maple Leafs are downplaying it, but you always wonder when a guy starts hurt, right?
So, I think Sandin, it behooves him, which is a good word for the day, to get done. And I think that one gets done.
I’m going to make a prediction. two time 1.5 . I don’t know if I’ll be right but I think that one gets done.
I think everybody is starting to see, this one doesn’t make sense for the player.
Marek: “I think the player feels like he’s being blocked too. Isn’t that part of the issue here?
Friedman: “I think people were sympathetic to that. I really do, but know you look at Liljegren, and you look at Muzzin. The opportunities are starting to open up for him.
It’s interesting, I remember last year, or it was either a year or two years ago, I said players can miss camp as they are in such good shape that they can catch up. And I had a couple players reach out to me and say, that even though they felt that they were in good shape, the more of camp they missed on these contract disputes. I don’t like to call them holdouts, I call them contract disputes. You’d be surprised how much you fall behind.
And I just think it’s too big a season for Sandin, and like I said, the opportunity argument is going away now. There’s injury in front of him. There’s a chance for him to come in hot and grab a spot.”
** NHLRumors.com transcription