Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on the Jeff Marek Show on if the Edmonton Oilers should be willing to pay any price to keep Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Marek: “I can’t help but feel that there’s there’s, there’s a part in Edmonton that saying, much like Ed Snider used to say, maybe it shouldn’t matter what we pay. We need the guy right now. To the point about Draisaitl and McDavid and the primes and all the things you’ve gone over.
Do they need to have a little bit of Ed Snider here and just say we’re gonna go into this and we know we’re going to “lose the trade.” We’re going to overpay, but we need this guy or these guys right now.”
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Friedman: “I think that’s what they’re weighing. You know, so far the answer to that question Jeff has been no, but I do think they’re weighing that possibility.
Look, like both those games in Florida were winnable games. They scored four times and in Tampa, and they lost. They scored four times in Florida, and they lost. But what are you gonna do? You should be, you should win in this league when you score four times. Like, you know, and it’s not only goaltending, you know, there’s a lot of breakdowns happening on these goals.
So on some level lately, the thing is, like I always remember (former Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex) Anthopoulos, right? Like, that year he goes for it, his last year with the Jays, but that year he goes for it and why does he go for it? Because he sees the, because (a) he knows he’s not keeping his job, that they’re, they’re looking in another direction. But also (b) he looks at the run differential of his team, and he says, we’re better than our record shows. Like we have to go for this. So he does it and, but the thing is, it’s tough to look at the Oilers right now. Like, like if their underlying numbers were really good, Jeff, and, and they’re losing, then you would say, you know what? Like, I would invoke the Anthopoulos rule, I’d go for it.
But now, I mean, you’re looking at the way you’re playing. You’re looking at the goals you’re giving up. You’re looking at the way you’re losing games and couldn’t, couldn’t, could John Gibson make a difference? Yeah, I think he could, but he’s not going to fix everything that ails you.
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And, you know, like I said, they’re in a unique point this year because of the contract calendar. The contract calendar is going to force them into a lot of difficult conversations and decisions. But I think you have to have some clarity on those goals before you know it before you go maniacal on some of the changes you make.”