Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Kelly Hrudy on the Toronto Maple Leafs and why Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov would be a perfect trade deadline fit.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Ron MacLean: “Elliotte, why don’t you bring us up to speed on a potential trade with Columbus and Kelly, you can tag that.
Friedman: “Yeah Kelly, you wait. Me first, then you.
So this is why the highlights Kevin just show are one of the reasons that people are wondering about what Toronto was thinking up front and on the blue line.
And ever since Jake Muzzin went down, I do think Toronto has thought about, do they need to replace him? They’ve been very good during the season as a whole, but they, Gavrikov, back-to-back against Columbus comes at a fortuitous time.
I do think the Maple Leafs have interest. I think that LA’s there as well. I think Boston’s there as well, and I’m sure there are other teams.
But this is a guy, left hand shot, a powerful player. That’s a player the Maple Leafs have thought about. Do we need that? So they’re, he’s definitely on their radar.
Columbus has a couple other players that teams have been looking at. (Joonas) Korpisalo played Friday night. They’ve had a tough year in goal this year. They’ve had a tough year overall. I think Korpisalo’s a guy that might be available for teams.
And the other one is (Gustav) Nyquist. Nyquist is an interesting case. He’s injured. He’s out right now. He’s going to miss most of the regular season. Initially, Columbus indicated he wouldn’t be back this year but Nyquist took pains to point out that if he is traded to a playoff team, he will be ready to play then.
But I think Gavrikov is the guy that Columbus has, that most people, Kelly, are looking at. Now, it’s your turn.
Hrudy: “Thank you Elliotte, I need your direction my friend. You’re though about teams wanting Gavrikov. In fact, I was told by a scout this week that they want him too.
So you get the real deal with this guy. He does everything. He’s been called a coach’s dream from me. He loves to stop the cycle. This is really, really important, especially for playoff hockey.
I’ve been told by another scout that he is old school.
Kevin Bieksa: “You have a lot scout friends.”
Hrudy: “I do actually. Last week I saw a whole bunch Kev.
And so when you look at this kind of play, this is what you have to do in your own zone. So he takes care of it. He, by the way, relishes playing against the top lines. And this is a really important play right here, how he plays physically. Really good here. He also likes to pin guys against the boards. We don’t see that as often anymore and he’s an excellent shot blocker.
So this is a guy, he’s out there. I was also told, now this is a rumor, I don’t know if this is true, that he may not re-sign if he goes to a Canadian team if he’s traded. I go back to last year when the Leafs got (Ilya) Lyubushkin. And we didn’t see the best of Lyubushkin but I think you’ll see a tremendous Gavrikov if he goes somewhere.
Ron MacLean: “Did you see, 17 scouts at Little Ceasers today for the Vancouver – Detroit game? So they are all over because of the deadline.”
** NHLRumors.com transcription
