NEWSLETTER
On Monday, Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman at SportsNet in Canada dropped their “32 Thoughts” Podcast and the Blackhawks’ offseason came up.
First, they talked about the trade discussions. Friedman initially shared his report that the Blackhawks are “open for business” between periods over the weekend, and Marek doubled down on NHL Network Radio on Sirius/XM on Monday morning. They went into a little more detail in this episode.
“What one GM said to me was that you can compare it to Brandon Hagel. Chicago put him out there, but you had to blow them away for them to consider it. And I think the thing I should stress is just because all these names are out there doesn’t mean that things are absolutely, 100 percent going to happen. I think they simply want to know the market value of all their guys.”
They immediately brought up the name Alex DeBrincat, but Friedman cautioned the rumor mill. “I was told ‘you can ask.’ I mean, it would take a huge offer, but I don’t think it’s impossible.”
Friedman also said he assumes a conversation will happen at some point with the three prominent players who have no-trade clauses: Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Seth Jones.
Then they walked down the road of the Hawks’ search for a new head coach.
Todd Reirdan‘s name came up — Friedman said Reirdan’s name was “on their radar — which is interesting. He’s been an assistant coach in the NHL for ten years and was tasked with following Barry Trotz as the head coach of the Capitals after Washington won the Stanley Cup and Trotz immediately left for the Islanders. After lasting two seasons in Washington as a head coach he went back to Pittsburgh, where over the last two years he’s worked primarily with the Penguins’ defensemen.
You can listen to the full podcast below. The Blackhawks conversation, which covers about four minutes, begins around 30 minutes into the episode.
