Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek on 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – Doing the Wright Thing – on Arizona Coyotes defensemen Jakob Chychrun, Conor Timmins and Shayne Gostisbehere. Could the Toronto Maple Leafs be one of the teams interested in Timmins?
Marek: “Let’s have quick look at the market of defensemen around one team specifically, and that is the Arizona Coyotes. Now, this is the week Chychrun makes his return. So fire up your rumor mills ladies and gentleman, Jakob Chychrun has now re-entered the chats.
Arizona plays Nashville, Carolina and Detroit this week.
You threw another name on the table as well on Saturday night and that is Conor Timmins.
Friedman: “Jeff, you know the Juniors better than I do. When he was a Junior, he was a big prospect, right?”
Marek: “Him and Rasmus Sandin on that Sault St. Marie blue line were outstanding. Absolutely. He was huge and his dad is one of the great hockey dads in the history of the OHL. I’m not sure if his dad, who went to Cornell by the way, missed a single one of Conor Timmins’ games. Didn’t matter if he had to fly or take a helicopter or a batmobile or whatever, he did not miss any of his son’s games.”
Friedman: “I’d like to see Conor Timmins’ dad in the batmobile.
Marek: “I would be pretty cool.”
Friedman: “They had the batmobile at one of the Stanley Cup Final games in 2018. It was in the parking lot in Vegas. And so we were walking home after one of the games and it was there, I go, can I take a picture in that, and they were like, sure. I think it was Nick and Kelly and they look at me and said, ‘I’ve never seen you so excited to take a picture before.’ I was in the seat of the batmobile. I digress.
So, by the way, listening to you say that it should not surprise you that after we did that segment, I had a couple people reach out to me and say they think Toronto is one of the teams that’s interested.
Marek: “Cause of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds?”
Friedman: “And he played with Sandin.”
Marek: “You want another useless fact?
Friedman: “Sure.”
Marek: “One blue eye, one brown eye.”
….
Friedman: “Timmins is on a conditioning stint of his own. Has only played two games in the NHL this year. His conditioning stint ends on Wednesday I believe. The biggest problem with him is he can’t stay healthy. He had concussion issues which are no joke. You want to be serious. He’s had some injuries here and there.
Arizona, I think so far this year has surprised us all a little bit, pleasantly. They’ve kept their heads above water a lot more than people expected. They play very hard. Which has been very impressive of them, all things considered.
But he can’t seem to find a spot right there and I’ve just heard there’s some conversation around him. We’ll see where it goes.
We all know about Chychrun. He’s coming back to play on Monday. He took a puck in the face at practice on Saturday. I was like, what else can happen to this guy?
And you mentioned Gostisbehere but someone told me to add Timmins’s name to this.
Marek: “I think again, this all changes, as you say with one phone call, I think Gostisbehere is closer to a trade deadline deal but not a 100 percent on that. And he’s on the expiry contract.
Friedman: “You don’t think there’s any chance he would stay? Like it’s been a good place for him there.
Marek: “It really has. I just don’t know that he stays. Like many people, I consider the Arizona Coyotes open for business on just about everybody.
Friedman: “Okay, Fair enough. I was wondering if he would just say, ‘you know what, I like it here. It’s been a good fit.
Marek: “You know what’s interesting about Conor Timmins, there were two teams, remember when the Darcy Kuemper sweepstakes were on, the two remaining teams were the Avalanche and the Oilers. And Colorado putting Conor Timmins in the deal, that’s what cinched it for the Avalanche. That they liked that prospect over whomever Edmonton was offering. As I’ve been told. That’s what ended up getting Colorado Avalanche, Darcy Kuemper.
