Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period joined Sirius XM NHL Network Radio with Nate Thompson and Steve Kouleas and was asked about the San Jose Sharks’ plan at the NHL Trade Deadline.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Nate Thompson: “Another team, I look at David, that’s the San Jose Sharks, and you’re seeing their 19-year-old leader and what he’s doing (and did) at the Olympics now for Team Canada. And I’m just wondering, is this a situation where they see what he’s doing and where their team’s at and they’re in the mix for a playoff spot? Do they not do anything, or they go out there and add? If Mike Grier said ‘Okay, we have Macklin here. He’s having a season, so we got to take advantage of this.'”
Dave Pagnotta: “I think it’s proceeding with caution. I think it’s what the Sharks are doing. Because there’s like, they’re still doing both things. I don’t think they want to deviate from their, their plan. Similar to the Montreal Canadiens, they’ve got a plan in place, and they’re doing well. Something falls into their lap, they’d obviously pounce at it. But beyond that, they don’t want to force the issue.
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And I think San Jose’s in the similar position where, Macklin is looking amazing in Milan (looked amazing), which is great to see if you’re a Sharks fan or just hockey fan in general. They brought in Kiefer Sherwood a few weeks ago. So way ahead of the freeze. He’ll be healthy by all accounts and ready to go for the club afterwards. So you want to see kind of he does.
But at the same time, because of the short runway between the freeze ending and the deadline, they’re both looking to add and subtract, and by subtract, I mean, they’ve got assets, especially on that back end, with guys like (Timothy) Liljegren and (Mario) Ferraro and (John) Klingberg and so on, that are pending unrestricted free agents that they can get a solid return for.
That’s what they’ve been looking to do. These guys have been available for a good chunk of the season. They’ve been willing to take calls on them. At the same time, they’ve also been looking to shore up that back end. But they want somebody who fits the kind of early to mid-20s that can grow with this group moving forward. And that’s what they’ve been looking for.
And I think that model follows kind of where they’re at in the mid-20s up front as well. You want to just insulate. You don’t want to just have the club, rolling young 20-year-olds the whole way. You want to insulate that with some veteran presence. That’s why they have (Tyler) Toffoli and (Alex) Wennberg and others.
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But they also want to make sure that they’ve got a good nucleus moving forward and they can add to it, especially on that back end. So I think the Sharks are willing to do both, but I don’t think they’re going to force it and suddenly, go after a big player, if they don’t feel it’s the right move to make.”
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