Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas on the 32 Thoughts Podcast: 882 Down. 13 to Go. episode, on Seth Jones‘ informal trade request to a contending team. If the Chicago Blackhawks don’t find a deal that they really like, they seem okay with holding on to him past the trade deadline.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Bukauskas: “All right, how about Seth Jones, another name that was out there this week after Ben Pope, out of Chicago, had the story that Jones not formally requested a trade, but does sound like he’s open to a potential move.
He would like to give himself a chance to win as he put it. He didn’t go full Roberto Luongo saying, my contract sucks, but he acknowledged, the money is not an easy thing to move. Five more years after this one at nine and a half. The Blackhawks do have one retention spot left for this season. What’s kind of the tea leaves telling you here a week and a half out from deadline?”
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Friedman: “So he hasn’t given a list of teams or anything like that from what I understand. I think he said he prefers a contender. And I think the Blackhawks have also indicated that if it doesn’t work, I don’t think they’ve got a problem with keeping him.
This sounds like it’s more Jones driven than Blackhawk driven. Because, you know, one of the things I really do think about Chicago is that they recognize, one of the things I think that happened this year is, like two things happen in Chicago this year that I think have really get, made them think about what’s all going on.
Number one was the outdoor game and Kyle Davidson going in there and telling his players that’s not acceptable. And number two was, I think the heat that Bedard has come under, like some of the national criticism, has reminded the organization that they’ve got to get some better players around him to help him.
Like I don’t, as I said at the time, if I was Connor Bedard, I would take some of that criticism as a compliment, because I’m the number one pick, and people at that level, people are going to judge you more intently than others because you’re that guy.
But I also think if I was the organization, I would say, ‘You know what, we have to protect that guy.’ And I think the Blackhawks do look at it that way.
And so if you trade Jones, you’re, especially if you trade him simply to move him, your, your defense is going to be worse. So I think at the end of the day, if it doesn’t work, I think they’re, they’re like, we can, we’ll be okay with Seth Jones on our roster. They need, they still need players to play around Bedard.
Anyway, I think there are some teams that have the ability to take his contract, but those teams aren’t contenders. And it was really interesting watching some of the comments about Columbus, because Columbus has really had a much, much better season than I think anybody even remotely would have predicted. Zach Werenski has taken a new leap into the stratosphere, and he continued it at the Four Nations. And you know, that’s a team that could make it work. I would be curious, I saw Jones quotes, but I would be curious like, does he think that qualifies as a contender? I’d be very interested in that.
But because a lot of the other contenders, like you know, a lot of people have said Dallas, for example. It’s going to be harder for Dallas with what they have coming in the next few years, contract wise, to make this work.
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Tell you one thing, other thing about Dallas, I want to mention, before I forget, Peter DeBoer at the Four Nations very complimentary of Jamie Benn. Like when you talk about Dallas’s contract situations and the ones they have to deal with, Jim Nill has said he wants to keep Jamie Benn. And Peter DE BOER was very complimentary of Benn, especially during all the injuries they’ve had this year. So that’s another one that they’re probably going to have to deal with.
So a team like Dallas, if you’re going to acquire him, it’s either retention or Chicago has to take a contract that Dallas doesn’t want. All that stuff and it becomes more and more complicated. I want to stress that this is purely my own thinking.”
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