Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on The Jeff Marek Show: Team Player or Sore Loser? on the trade market.
Matt Marchese: “So on the trade market as a whole, I know last week we kind of talked about everything being backed up right now.
What do you believe the willingness is among teams to deal away first-round picks? Because everybody expects this is going to be a deep draft. Nobody wants to trade away their first and then fall out of the race. So any first that is going to be moved is probably going to be teams that are locked into the playoffs.
But, I guess what I’m asking is, are we going to see a first-round pick for Ben Chiarot-type deal this year just because a lot of teams being up against the cap need cheap, high-end talent if they’re going to continue on this way?
Friedman: “Well, I still think that, if you take a look at a guy I’ve heard, there’s some decent unrestricted free agent defenseman out there like Gavrikov in Columbus. I think he’s on a few teams radars. If you look at what Columbus got for David Savard a couple years ago, it was a first and a third.
And if you look at Montreal as you mentioned got for Chiarot last year, they’re still going to try that. There’s no question. I do think there is a real fear about trading out of the first round this year because it’s a deep draft and, but then again, we get to the deadline there’s going to be some teams that know they will be picking a little higher, so it’s probably less of fear.
I just think that the issue right now is that the league is so constipated (…inaudible). There’s so many teams that are close to the cap or in injured reserve, long-term injured reserve, that there’s not flexibility to make moves out there, and that’s the biggest problem right now.
Marchese: “Do you think some teams may be a little bit scared to be the ones to set the market? Just to say, ah, I could have got more or do you think there are teams willing, it’s just a matter of things just need to be able to move around money-wise?
Friedman: “Yes. Yes, I think it’s ‘B.’ Option B.”