The Jets and Kings finally brokered the Dubois trade that has captivated folks in this market and around the NHL for some time. On the 32 Thoughts Podcast that was released today Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman discuss the big deal.
Marek began the discussion talking about a text exchange he had with someone which took note of a trend that they thought makes it “easier” to sign guys in Winnipeg. That would be the University of Minnesota-Duluth (Pionk, Toninato, Kuhlman, Samberg and now Iafallo) as all those guys played for the Bulldogs. Not sure how much stock I’d put into that “trend”.
Then Friedman added this:
“For a couple of weeks now L.A. came in hard on this deal. I don’t know if I’ll ever know that this was true but I heard that L.A. came in, in a deal at the end of last week that the Jets rejected and if it is what I heard it was this is a better deal. But the Jets held out. I think there were some guys in that initial deal that are not in this one ’cause Winnipeg said ‘no we’re not doing it for that’. I think they did really well all things considered. I had some guys say to me you if look at Vilardi’s analytics they are very comparable to Dubois’ at five on five. So as long as he keeps growing and he just had a 25 goal season that’s going to be a really good trade for the Jets.”
He added this about Iaffalo:
“This was tough on Iaffalo. That’s the one guy I heard, I just think when he signed in L.A. I think he envisioned himself for four years in L.A. but I don’t have any reason to think it’s not going to work out there. I just think that he was probably the guy who it was the biggest culture shock that he was included in that deal. By the way I can understand why the Jets would want him because a) he’s a good player and b) he’s also got two more years so you’ve got some time here.”
The conversation then moved on to what Dubois will bring the Kings. They did return to the trade talk at the 6:55 mark talking about L.A.’s aggression to get a deal done. Friedman then mentioned Montreal’s package. With the Habs he thinks 1) He doesn’t think they wanted to offer Dubois that type of contract and 2) Thinks the Jets were willing to take a few more futures from Montreal but that the Canadiens didn’t want to give up certain prospects.
Jets audio starts at 2:28 although if you start listening from the beginning Jeff tells a great Dennis Beyak story which is clipped from their interview with Nashville GM and Dauphin product Barry Trotz.
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