Donnie & Dhali: Elliotte Friedman on the Donnie & Dhali show on Monday when asked what the latest on the contract extension talks between the Vancouver Canucks and Bo Horvat.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Rick Dhaliwal: “I was told on the weekend, lines have been drawn in the sand. What are you hearing on the Bo Horvat contract situation.”
Friedman: “Well I don’t know who the Vancouver market is going to see as a bigger Horvat homer, you or me on this one? We keep going with this.
You know my feelings with Horvat. I think he’s a heck of player and I don’t think you give up top-six centers in this league. I just think they’re too hard to find.
Look, I think again, I will say this all the time. It’s my number one message. Negotiations can get very personal. They can get very, very personal. And doing this job for 30 years, one thing I’ve really learned is that they can go up and down. And there are times when it looks like there’s no hope and it gets done, and there’s other times when it looks like it will foresure get down and it doesn’t get done.
For example, I thought in the summer there was no change. I wouldn’t say no chance, but very little chance that we’d get to the season without a Horvat extension, and here we are.
And I know now it looks really down. The sky is dark over this, but I don’t think it means it’s over. I think that it takes calmness to get through this. You’re dealing with a GM whose seen everything. You’re dealing with an agent whose seen everything.
I think if this season has continued the way it was going, I think it would be a real likelihood that maybe the Canucks and Horvat would move on. It’s hard to extend people in a season like this but there’s still time and I refuse to proclaim it over one way or the other.
I do think the Canucks are going to have to go higher here than they wanted to. I a hundred percent believe that’s the case as he continues to play like this and he’s a top-six center. But they did it for Miller and again, I’ve said this 40 times, if they can do it for Miller, there is no reason if they want, that they can’t do it for Horvat.”
** NHLRumors.com transcription