Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek on 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – Six Degrees of Chris Chelios episode … on the Detroit Red Wings and if they would be interested in Jake Guenztel who may not fit how GM Steve Yzerman does things long-term and if they’re looking for a defenseman.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Marek: “Interesting on headlines, some of the teams that you mentioned swinging back to Jake Guentzel: Vegas Vancouver, Edmonton, Florida, Carolina. The caveat to all of that is, there has to be more.”
Friedman: “Yes.”
Marek: “When you have someone like Jake Guentzel available.”
NHL Rumors: Ottawa Senators, Detroit Red Wings, Nashville Predators and the Montreal Canadiens
Friedman: “You know, on, in the last pod we talked about Detroit. I don’t know that Detroit’s interested and it’s not like (GM Steve) Yzerman is volunteering information to anyone. But there are a lot of people who see it as a fit.
You know, the one thing about Yzerman is, is that they have a spot on the left side there. It certainly is a positional fit on the team.
But what a couple of people said to me is if you look at his recent contracts, he does not like term for the veterans, right? You know, like Larkin got a big extension at 27. He’s the captain. You know, (J.T.) Compher got five years, he just turned 28. But look at a lot of the other deals. (Alex) DeBrincat’s 26, he got four years. You know, Copp is signed for four more years, he’s 29. (Michael) Rasmussen, who’s 24 just signed a four-year deal.
If you’re gonna trade for Guentzel and signing him, you’re gonna have to sign for seven or eight years. Like there’s just no other way that this is going to happen. And I had a few teams telling me that it’s not what Yzerman really wants to do.
Now I’ve got to think he’s going to do, eventually, when he’s signed (Moritz) Seider, I’ve got to think he’s going to do that for him and I would bet they’re going to take a run at Lucas Raymond at some point, but those two guys are 22 and 21 years old.
But the only flaw in my argument people really thought was, it’s against what Yzerman tends to do, to give seventh and eighth-year deals to 30-year-olds. It’s, if you look at his base of work, he avoids it. He really tries to avoid it.”
Marek: “The one thing, sticking with Detroit and through this in my notes this week is, someone that I spoke with said that don’t be surprised if he goes after someone on the back end. This person I talked to said don’t be surprised if Yzerman gets someone who’s smelly.
So what do you mean by smelly and he said hard to play against. That’s what I mean by smelly. I know they have a lot of defense, cause hat was my argument back. I’m like, were they going to find room for another defenseman? And this person said to me, don’t be surprised if they’re looking for one type of defenseman, specifically, some, they don’t have that one guy that’s nails to play against. Don’t be surprised Yzerman …”
Friedman: “I would agree with that.”
Marek: “… goes in that direction. I mean, there’s…”
Friedman: “I agree with that.”
Marek: “… a few that are out there. You know, I would wonder about whether you’ll Nikita Zadorov or Matt Dumba or something like that, but it wouldn’t surprise me if, if that’s the direction that that he goes there.”