Canadiens were in Dubois but….
Eric Engels: Believe that Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin tried hard to acquire Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Columbus Blue Jackets but only if it made sense for them.
Without wanting to include Nick Suzuki or Alexander Romanov, it made the deal hard to work for both sides.
Kekalainen on the contract negotiations with Dubois
TSN: Pierre-Luc Dubois said after his trade from the Columbus Blue Jackets that contract negotiations with the team were part of the reason that he started thinking about playing for another team.
Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen was on TSN 1050 radio yesterday that his contract negotiations with Dubois’ comp couldn’t have driven Dubois to want a trade out of Columbus.
“That’s just flat out not true at all and he knows that, so I don’t know why he would say that or even insinuate something like that, because that’s not true,” Kekalainen told TSN. “It took all in all, I think 10 minutes to do his contract when we finally agreed on the length of the deal and we had everything from two years, to three years to eight years on the table. First, we didn’t really talk about it, that’s how Pat Brisson conducts his business, I have the upmost respect for him as a professional and how he handled the negotiations.
“There was never any problem with the negotiation of this contract, it came to a conclusion very quickly and I thought what we signed was a fair deal for both sides…Once the player and the agent wanted to engage in the talks and we agreed on the length, it was a very easy process. There was nothing about these negotiations and I wish that Pierre-Luc would tell the truth about why he wanted out. He hasn’t even told me; he hasn’t told his teammates or anybody else. It certainly wasn’t about contract negotiations; I can assure you of that.”