Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek on the 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – Persuading Pettersson episode on if the Calgary Flames defenseman Noah Hanifin trying to direct himself to teams he may prefer signing an extension with. Which teams are interested?
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Marek: “But what do you wonder about with the big D on Calgary?
Friedman: “So it’s clear here that, you know, Hanifin first of all, has some trade protection, but he’s trying to move it to where he wants to go, right? Like places like Tampa Bay or places he wants to extend. And on some level, it could, it’s probably a better deal for Calgary if he gets traded with an extension.
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The other thing here too is, I think their ask is higher for Hanifin than it was for (Chris) Tanev. But I do think that Hanifin is trying to work it the best way he can. So the Flames they’re going to have to make a decision. Do we allow Hanifin to talk and basically pick where he wants to go or do we just make the best trade we can make and let it play where it lies? And I think we’re still kind of in that process.
You know, one of the other teams I’ve kind of wondered about here, like the Florida teams have gotten a lot of attention, Tampa and Florida. I think, you know, obviously Boston, New Jersey. I’ve wondered about Washington. If Washington is a player in this too, because I think Washington is looking to make some changes, but I don’t think they really want to go to rock bottom. Like I could see Washington having eyes on Hanifin.
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So that to me is the question here is, does Calgary say, ‘All right, we’re going to cede some control over this,’ or does Calgary say ‘we’re just going to take the best deal as long as Hanifin can’t block it there and we’ll we’ll just let it play out that way.’ That’s the big question for me.”