Devils and Flames Pause Talks, For Now, Could Pick Up Again At Some Point
Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period joined the Sirius XM NHL Network Radio Power Play segment with Steve Kouleas and Carter Hutton, and when asked about the New Jersey Devils and Calgary Flames talking about Jacob Markstrom, Pagnotta stated things are not dead just yet, but the teams hit the pause button for now.
** NHLRumors.com Transcription
NHL Rumors: Should the Flames Sell High on Jacob Markstrom?
Steve Kouleas: “So you mentioned the Avs and Marc-Andre Fleury possibly. Have we talked about other goalies in the mix here? And I think I asked you almost every week now. Carolina, Freddie coming, so maybe no, maybe it’s just Markstrom to New Jersey. How about that trade? Wouldn’t that be a good trade for the Devils?”
Dave Pagnotta: “Yeah, it would certainly. It’s just a matter of them figuring things out. I reported on Friday that Markstrom, from my understanding is he would be willing to waive his no-move clause to go to New Jersey. And we know the Flames have some interest in a few different Devils players. Alex Holtz being one of them. It Sounds like they certainly have made momentum on discussions, but this is a big, complicated move. There are finances involved, and I think there’s a pause.
I don’t believe that things are dead in the water between the two clubs. I think they’re going to kind of just pause things, reconvene shortly, give everybody a clear head and try to get back to tackling that discussion. If it doesn’t happen now, it certainly could be revisited in the offseason.
If that is the case, then I think New Jersey is going to look to one of the rental goalies, whether it’s, you know, (Kaapo) Kahkonen, for example, in San Jose. That’s another guy that’s kind of on their radar. They can go short-term fix now and then try to revisit Markstrom or (John) Gibson or somebody else in the summer, so I think that’s kind of where their heads are at with respect to goaltending.
NHL Rumors: New Jersey Devils Want To Upgrade at the Deadline
I mean, this is another team, Hanifin/Tanev, on the radar, a few for New Jersey. But outside in terms of other teams kind of looking, you know, between the pipes, you know, San Jose has got both of their guys that that are available. You have Jake Allen as well. One year left on his contract. So it’s not a rental per se, but the Canadiens have been holding firm on their price tag.
They don’t just want to give him away for a late pick. They value him in the room, so there’s that element as well. From their side of things, they do not want to rush moving him because of what he brings into that locker room. So the goalie market is slowly, I think, getting there, at least from a discussion point.
There was a bit of a lull. Now we’re back up a little bit. We’ll see kind of how things unfold. And now we’re here in Buffalo as well. We could be entering the goalie mix in terms of somebody more long-term, and that would certainly spice things up.”
