Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman when asked about the trade market and who could be buyers and sellers given the number of ‘bubble’ teams at the moment, and what they might be looking to do.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Gord Stellick: “So you’re going to get tired of people asking trade rumors, but that’s just the reality as we count the trade deadline. So, I mean, Doug Armstrong got in early, made some moves.
Now there’s such a log jam that really a player or two can make an appreciable difference. So I’m curious about particular hot prospective buyers now.
And then, like Philadelphia, Montreal, are they still sellers, even though, you know, even though they’re in the playoff hunt. How are you kind of gaging it right now?
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Friedman: “Well, I think that it’s, it’s kind of interesting in the sense that Philadelphia, or sorry Rangers and Vancouver were talking with each other because those were the teams that were kind of in the middle of a lot of the stuff. So I guess on one level, it makes sense that they’d be discussing a potential move.
You know, I think, I think of other teams out there, like Montreal and Philadelphia, I think Gordy, there’s still teams that take a long-term view of things. You know, I think the Flyers have been looking for a center like half the league is. And I think they also kind of have to, I think they’ve, I think a lot of us have been wondering about their goaltending situation and what it could mean long-term. But I still think that the Flyers have a big picture view. I still think the Canadians have a big picture view.
You know, Detroit and Buffalo have been kind of hanging around. And I don’t know if that’s fizzled out or what exactly has happened with it, but they were talking to each other about something. Which I believe was Cozens for quite a bit of time.
I think the Penguins have let it be known that they’re willing to do a lot of different things and, but they’re looking for young players in return.
I think everybody knows that Dallas is going to use their available salary cap space with the Seguin injury at some point. The question is when.
I mean, one team, I think a lot of teams, were kind of looking around and saying they have things that we like, is Calgary. But you know, Calgary is in the race. They’re in that second wild card. Their, their playoff percentage is, their points percentage is .567. You know, all the stuff the Flames are saying, ‘You know what we, we might not want to do much here.’
So I do think Saint, I do think Doug Armstrong is a guy, he’s, he’s, he’s shown that he wants a bit more out of what he’s getting right now.
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And, you know, the other one too, like, I kind of wonder about a little bit is Seattle. Like, you know, they’ve won a couple games. They’ve got a big one tonight at home against Buffalo, and they have some guys in (Yanni) Gourde, or maybe even someone with a bit more term like an (Jamie) Oleksiac, I think some teams would have interest in those kinds of guys. It’s just a matter of Seattle saying, ‘Okay, we’re ready to do this stuff.”
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