Hudson Fasching Very Interested In Extension
Stefan Rosner of NYI Hockey Now: New York Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello said that it is obvious his unrestricted free agents are very important as they are here. He never mentioned Hudson Fasching by name, but it is interesting.
Fasching enjoyed the ups this season far more than the downs from earlier in the campaign. The defensive forward utilizes his frame well, rarely makes mistakes, and can even contribute offensively when pressed.
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Lane Lambert has been impressed.
“He uses his body, and he can skate. And when I say use his body, he protects the puck. He finds a way to get leverage, and what you do with that and what he does with that is it turns into strength and strength on the puck, so there’s no question that he’s playing well, and he needs to continue doing that.”
It appears Fasching could get a slight pay raise and stability from his one-year, $750,000 deal. That would be welcome for a player who bounced around a lot early in his NHL career.
Why Don Waddell Did Not Do More
Michael Russo of The Athletic: Looking around at the trade landscape tempted Don Waddell into making more moves on trade deadline day. However, he resisted. His earlier acquisitions of Shayne Gostisbehere and Jesse Puljujarvi were enough for him and the Carolina Hurricanes.
For one, there was no shortage of phone calls and offers. Several possibilities never even made it to the rumor pile as time ticked toward that 3:00 pm deadline. Nothing else happened and Waddell was fine with that.
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“We talked with a lot of people. We have these last two weeks,” Waddell said. “But we have a different approach, obviously, than some teams, and we don’t get caught up in what anybody else is doing.”
After it became clear that Timo Meier was going to New Jersey, Waddell did not panic. Instead, he looked to acquiring someone to help his power play and tried taking a reclamation shot on another Finnish player with potential. No one will ever know what Waddell offered San Jose and Mike Grier. None of that matters now.
It could have been quite a deal, but maybe it just was not good enough.