Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on the 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – Growing Concern Around Canadiens Teams episode, on Carolina Hurricanes and what he had heard about the Andrei Svechnikov situation from earlier this season.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Kyle Bukauskas: “Okay, let’s get the Svechnikov here, Friedge. Like, talk about kind of a story that came out of nowhere, at least on the outside here. So, you had that as part of your Saturday Headlines. Now, things seem to be much better than it was early on in the year, but describe what you all learned and heard with Svechnikov and the Hurricanes, at least, to start this season.”
Friedman: “So it was, it was Saturday afternoon, and, you know, you make your calls and you, you try to, you know, see what’s going on out there. And you know, someone said to me, have you heard that Svechnikov is available? And I was like, what? Like, there’s, I thought they were talking about his brother, and I was like, and I was like, mean the Carolina’s Svechnikov? Like, Andrei Svechnikov? And the guy said to me, ‘yeah, like that one.’ And I go, ‘No way.’ And he said, ‘You should look into it.’
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So I made a couple calls, and basically it was, it was, as it was explained. You know, he was early in the year, he was struggling. He didn’t have points in his first eight games, and he was down on the fourth line. And there was one game, I think he played 11:48. But his ice time was way down.
And I guess it was sometime during that span that he said, ‘Look, if, if you guys want to trade me because you’re not happy with me, or you don’t think I fit here, I’m not going to be opposed to it.’
And I don’t know how it got out to teams, but it got out to teams. And I guess they got called, and I don’t know who. Like I’d love to tell you who I think called, but I just don’t know. But you know, they called, and I heard Carolina said to them, ‘You know what, we don’t want to do this, and we are not inclined to do this, but if you want to make us a monster offer, like a monster offer, we’ll think about it, or consider it,’ whatever.
And I don’t think like I don’t sometimes these stories, I do, they knock more stuff loose. This didn’t. I don’t think they got anything that they would even remotely consider doing for. Meanwhile, it has sorted itself out. He’s back up on the first line with Aho and Jarvis, and he’s producing. They lost 4-1 in Buffalo on Saturday. Suddenly, hot Buffalo. Won three of their last four. Luukkonen’s won two in a row.
But before that, he had 12 points in 13 games. His ice time was right back up. So I think for now, this is really cooled down. But the only reason you keep it on your radar, and the thing that you know really stood out to me was, it just indicated that, you know, if Svechnikov ever gets back to a place again where he’s not happy with his usage, then this could all flare itself back up.
But overall, I got the picture of a guy that the organization thinks is pretty valuable, and generally he’s pretty happy there.
But you know, as someone said to me, Sunday morning, Kyle, it’s just another example of the fact that players now are flexing their muscle. Like they’re saying, ‘Hey, I’m not happy here. I’m not prepared to be as patient as we used to be.’ Like we talked about this on Friday’s pod, there’s (Pavel) Mintyukov, there’s (Brad) Lambert from Winnipeg, there’s Svechnikov, although it seems to be calmed down now, Kyle. It’s, the, the players are not shy anymore, if they’re if they’re not happy.”
Bukauskas: “Well, that’s what I wondered. If this was a build-up of things that had gone on, I don’t know, years, something from last season? Where you have a guy that, I mean, you took into your organization, a high draft pick back in 2018. A team that’s made the playoffs every year, they’ve been competitive. He’s been an important part of that. I know there’s…”
Friedman: “Wery important.”
Bukauskas: “… times where he’s missed because of injury, But it just seems strange where, after all of that, and eight games into the year, it’s not an ideal start down the lineup, and suddenly, hold on here. Now we’re looking at, or at least contemplating the idea of moving on. It seemed a little knee-jerk to it all, but to your point, maybe that’s kind of the, the era that we’re we’re entering here, in some cases. Players and the representatives aren’t afraid to flex that compared to the past.”
Friedman: “I’ll tell you this too, and everybody I dealt with here was very professional. And another team called me on Sunday, and they said they hate how this stuff gets out. Like, they basically said, that’s like three in a week, basically, right? And I just said, ‘Can’t blame reporters for being great at their jobs.'”
Bukauskas: “That’s, I wonder, yeah, that’s another feather in my cap.”
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Friedman: “No, I don’t think like that. But it’s just, it’s just like, is it is like that? Like teams desperately try to keep a lid on this kind of stuff.”
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