Sportsnet: Eric Francis on the Jeff Marek Show when asked about Nikita Zadorov’s trade from the Calgary Flames and how GM Craig Conroy is handling it.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Marek: “What’s the latest with Zadorov? You know, Elliott was reporting on the weekend that Mikael Backlund had a let’s turn the volume down meeting with various players, all the players, who knows. But what is the latest with Zadorov and how do you see this one playing itself out?”
Francis: “Well, you know what, what his agent did was put his client in a really bad situation and, and I blame the player too. Don’t get me wrong. The way they went about it with a trade demand after, after a pretty good outing in Toronto and the team is struggling just adding, adding to their consternation in so many ways they didn’t need to.
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And that’s, that’s unfortunate because it also makes sure that this GM can’t possibly trade them anytime soon. Not just because the whole league knows that you’re probably going to trade him. I think the league knew that at some point, they’re probably going to trade them anyway.
But by doing that, and being a rookie GM, the whole league is watching you see how you react. He has no choice but to let this guy stay on the roster for at least another month or two. So a Zadorov trade will not be forthcoming anytime soon.
He has been a good soldier and I think that’s why last night proved that he’s been very good on the ice. He’s been a real pro on the ice. I talked to Conroy just the other day and he had a long meeting with Zadorov and the agent and, and, and there’s, let’s just put it this way, I think the meeting with Zadorov went a whole lot better than with the agent. He has a good relationship with Zadorov and, and he says, Hey, you just go out there and be a pro for as long as you’re a Calgary Flame, and we’ll deal with everything else as long as it comes later.
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So as he put it to me, we will deal with him like any other player, we will do what’s best for the Calgary Flames. But most importantly, we will do it on our timeline, not on some agents timeline or some players timeline. So Zadorov’s been good, but that was so completely unnecessary and a real misstep in his career I think.”