NHL Network: Elliotte Friedman when asked but things seem a little slow despite all the rumored names potentially available.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Jamie Hersch: “Elliotte, we were talking right at the beginning of the show about how it’s been a strangely quiet week, right? For so many things that are rumored to be going to happen, nothing really big has actually happened.
Do you think we’re just going to have a landslide of news starting, I don’t know, Monday?
Friedman: “I do. I think this week as everybody kind of arrives in Nashville next week, Jamie, I do think it’s going to pick up.
For one thing, I do believe that deadlines spur action. Right now we don’t really have many deadlines yet, so once we get closer to the draft and people actually have to make picks and decide where they’re going, I think that’s going to open things up.
But, you know Jamie, other thing someone was telling me morning, is that there’s a lot of good players out there. If you think about what Winnipeg might be up to and what Calgary might be up to and some other teams might be up to, there’s some really talented players out there.
And right now I think teams feel, that teams that would be going after those players, they think that they can wait a bit to see if some of these teams panic or some of these teams get concerned.
Especially when it comes to goalies. There’s a lot of goalies out there.
And so, are you looking for a free agent? Are you looking for someone to trade for? Are you looking for someone who has a contract? Are you looking for someone you have to give a contract so you can set your own terms? There’s a lot there.
I think some of the teams that are buyers. Philly’s another one. Daniel Briere is definitely out there trying to do things. But I think there are a lot of teams that are buyers that are kind of saying, ‘there’s a lot out there and we can maybe wait a little bit to see who gets a little worried that they might not be able to make the moves they want to move.’”
