Two teams weren’t afraid of a long-term commitment from Quinn Hughes
Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman when Quinn Hughes told the Vancouver Canucks he wouldn’t sign a contract extension with them. The New Jerseys were really interested, but they couldn’t create the salary cap space.
** NHLRumors.com transaction
Ron McLean: “Okay, Quinn Hughes. Walk us through a little bit.”
Friedman: “Yeah. So, you know, one of the things that everyone was wondering about was, what was behind the scenes of this play? And there’s been a lot of speculation, including myself, about, you know what Hughes said to the Canucks and when about the future. And also, the Canucks have openly speculated that Hughes would want to play with his brothers. So what did they know?”
And the best information I could get in the wake of this shocking transaction, which Martine Gaillard reminded me of last night, I never saw coming. That is, he told them, I believe, just before American Thanksgiving, like around that time, when the Canucks were losing, that he was really having a hard time dealing with it.
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If you’re a Canucks fan, you’ve seen it. If you’re a Canuck watcher, you’ve seen it. He really struggled with the loss. And it was right around that time, before the American Thanksgiving, that the Canucks were told he would not be signing an extension with them this summer. And then the Canucks really stepped things up.
Now there’s no doubt that a number of teams were genuinely scared or concerned about Hughes not making a long-term commitment at this point. The quote from his agent Pat Brisson says that about the past 24 hours. I think there were two teams that weren’t really afraid of that.
Number one was Minnesota, because I don’t think Bill Guerin is afraid of anything. And the other one was, I think, New Jersey, because I think they felt like they were in a really good position.
New Jersey, they couldn’t free up the cap room, and I think they have some clauses there that were negotiated fairly and equitably that prevented them from doing what they needed to do to open up spots.
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And I think Minnesota just said, we’re going to go for it, and they did. And you know, Ron, sometimes you come out of these things and people say, ‘Oh, I could have made them a better offer. Vancouver got a better deal.” I don’t see that here at all.
I know the Canucks fans are very disappointed. I understand. I don’t think they could have gotten a better deal than this given the circumstances.”
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