Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek on the Jeff Marek Show on the Arizona Coyotes.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Marek: “One of the things, speaking of waivers, one of the things that I thought about was, the minute that Arizona claimed Juuso Valimaki, was that the precursor to finally a Jakob Chychrun or maybe a Shayne Gostisbehere deal?
We all know what the score is with the Arizona Coyotes. We all know this Connor Bedard or bust. This is, get the first overall pick. We all know it. They are obvious about it, and Chicago is the same way.
Would you put those two and two together? Juuso Valimaki gets claimed, that opens up the potential for more of a trade.
Friedman: “I don’t think it opens up the potential for more. I think with Chychrun, he’s going at some time, it’s just a matter of when, right? Gostisbehere could potentially be the same thing too.
So I don’t think it makes it any more likely. I didn’t, to be honest, I didn’t realize until I looked at it yesterday until after Valimaki was claimed, just how many bodies they had.
So, I don’t think you’re going to see players get moved. And the other thing too is Jeff, first of all, nobody stays healthy, and when you’re in the West, you need to travel. Like Arizona’s got, cause there now in the Central Division, their travel is a bit tougher. That can warp you up too.
I think it happens eventually but I don’t know if it changes the schedule. We’ve talked about with Chychrun, the whole Ryan Ellis situation in Philly has put a cool over some of those Chychrun talks. People what to know if he’s healthy and the fact that his return as been pushed back a little bit this week, people will probably wait a little longer.”
