The Daily Faceoff: David Pagnotta on the Sheet with Jeff Marek on the Columbus Blue Jackets and their winning streak that has put them in the playoff hunt, and therefore complicates the trade market.
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Marek: “But how much, this, this is good for you.
And, you know, as you and I have talked about, you know, either Boone Jenner or Charlie Coyle going to the Edmonton Oilers. And, you know, to help make the third row. Which Stan Bowman, of course, we can imagine, trying to put together there with the Oilers. How much of this winning is covering everything right now, Dave?”
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Pagnotta: “It happens and it doesn’t happen. Because, as if on the unbiased side, Waddell and company, they thought that this is a team, I mean, not at this level, not how well they did, with (Rick) Bowness behind the bench, and that’s not sustainable.
And they believed that what they had on paper would show their entire performance was wrong, and they needed to make a change. And as Bones walks in, it’s a free house. There is more communication. There was talk that, you know, maybe the players started tuning out Evanson, and that’s why they ended up coming in this way. But things have definitely changed.
They feel like a running team. But at the same time, if they can’t get (Erik) Gudbranson and Jenner and Coyle to sign, or at least feel confident, or there’s a risk of them going to free agency, then I think Waddell will look at the market and see what’s available for them.
Whether it’s Edmonton or, you know, LA wants a center. Are they going the way of Coyle? There are other groups that want to benefit, you know, their, their remaining club, they reward their club, I mean by adding to it. So whether it’s Dallas or Columbus or, I’m sorry, Colorado. East Carolina, other teams, Tampa, Montreal, etc.
There are a lot of teams that are going to want to make a move, and they want to be, they want to see, ‘Hey, is Coyle available? Is Jenner available? Can we go this way?
So I think Columbus, again, they feel that this is a team, that they’ve put together that can compete for a playoff spot. So they are comfortable with that. But at the same time, can they get these guys signed? Mason Marchment, another. “
Marek: “It’s interesting. You know, it’s not surprising, you know, Rick Bowness comes in. Seven games, they’ve only given up 13 goals, 13 goals. Like us, we should have seen this coming, that right away, defensively, this team was going to tighten up. I’ll be curious to see what Columbus does.”
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Like if they come in, we’re going to talk about Artemi Panarin here in a second. The same thing happened to Panarin in Columbus, too. And (Sergei) Bobrovsky, you know, like, treat them like their rental houses. It was important for the organization to get over the hump, playoffs, etc. And it worked in that first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning, for sure. But in the end those guys ended up leaving and nothing happened. “
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