Teams can take steps faster than we think
The Fourth Period’s Dave Pagnotta joined Sirius XM NHL Network Radio’s Power Play with Steve Kouleas and Craig Button, and he was asked when we might see teams pull the trigger on trades this season.
NHLRumors.com Transcripts
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Craig Button: “Okay, so we’ve gone past the Pittsburgh Penguins. Sorry, David, we’re not going past the Pittsburgh Penguins. We’re going past Sidney Crosby. At what point in time do you expect and Pittsburgh is just one of these teams, we hear Bryan Rust. We hear about it Rickard Rakell. We know Kyle Dubas wants to push the youth there because that’s what they need to do. Where do you see the demarcation point for these teams in the competition, Rasmus Andersson in Calgary so that maybe these players get more exposure in terms of trade talks?”
Dave Pagnotta: “Everyone knows that American Thanksgiving, that time frame is traditionally a time when teams feel comfortable fully evaluating their roster. And I think it’s a combination, especially in recent years, in the cap era, that teams, yes, mark that, but they can’t really do too much because everyone is against the cap. This year is a little different, and I’m curious to see how some of these clubs use space.”
Normally, teams wait, push and try to accumulate more cap space by adding a player later in the season. Yes, we all know the cap game has changed a bit, especially if you have to freeze your roster or lineup during the playoffs, the game has to be cap compliant, this, that and the other. But it still gives teams and teams more flexibility to do it this year, and many teams are compliant and have the extra space to play with much sooner than in the past.
And I think depending on how some of these clubs do, we all know which direction Pittsburgh is going. For example, if the Calgary Flames named Rasmus Andersson, if things don’t work out there in the first 15-20 games of the season, will they engage in more serious discussions in the first part of the year? That’s what I’m curious about.
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And I think there’s a sense that some of these teams are willing to at least escalate some of those conversations early. Ultimately, they are the ones who have to pull the trigger. We expected a busy off-season. We have nothing. So it clearly takes two to tango. These guys will have to do it; these managers will have to decide when to finally pull the trigger.
But I do expect that when I talk to people around the league, it seems like teams are willing to have more serious conversations earlier in the season because so many teams have that wiggle room.
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