TSN Insider Darren Dreger joined First Up on TSN 1050 to chat about all things NHL. For folks that follow the Jets three of the names that have been the focal point were brought up in the discussion with Aaron Korolnek and Carlo Colaiacovo.
Dreger on Pierre-Luc Dubois:
“Let’s be careful not to push this thing too hard, too fast. I believe that the Los Angeles Kings are the top contender for Pierre-Luc Dubois. I believe that Pierre-Luc Dubois wants to go to the Los Angeles Kings and his agent Pat Brisson has probably engaged with Rob Blake and the management people with the L.A. Kings but I’ve got good sources on both sides and both groups as of last night kept saying ‘not so fast here’. But again I would go as far as saying for sure the Los Angeles Kings are a frontrunner but as the old cliche goes ‘it’s not done until it’s done’. But I don’t know if this is weird or not it’s just sometimes when you have a trade dynamic, it either fits or it doesn’t fit and I know that sounds incredibly simple and I am going to include Montreal Canadiens in why I am saying that. Winnipeg’s not interested in rebuild, they want to stay competitive, so they’ve got to get assets in return that are going to play for the Winnipeg Jets this season. So I’m looking at Iafallo, I’m looking at Valadri, I’m looking at pieces like that right, that would be involved. Well who are you taking from the Montreal Canadiens off their roster that they’re willing to take? Josh Anderson’s name was floated out there, don’t see Josh Anderson as being the fit that the Winnipeg Jets want so I think it became pretty clear very early in the discussions between Kent Hughes and Kevin Cheveldayoff that there wasn’t a fit between Montreal and Winnipeg. Maybe that’s changes in the next couple of days but again I think L.A. is the lead dog here.”
Dreger was asked about NHL GMs and how willing they are to spend 9.5 million on a goalie aka Connor Hellebuyck:
“Someone probably would be willing to pay him that but I don’t know that that’s going to be a team that Connor Hellebuyck thinks he can win on right? That’s the problem and that’s why it got a little bit significantly an issue for the Winnipeg Jets when the market got limited because that number was floated out there. I mean we talked about it on Insider Trading, Pierre LeBrun wrote about it in The Athletic, that he was likely going to command Andrei Vasilevskiy type of money and that’s nine and a half million. However, it does need to be qualified here, winning is the most significant factor for Connor Hellebuyck. That’s why last week when we reported that the New Jersey Devils had inquired and had some interest, that made a lot of sense. If they could stabilize their goaltending look out, I mean he’d be catching that group fully on the upswing but I don’t think Tom Fitzgerald and the Devils have any appetite to pay him upwards of nine million dollars.”
He then added this which included a mention of Jets centre Mark Scheifele:
“A lot can change. I always qualify by saying a simple phone call, maybe that phone call is from ownership to management and management picks up the phone calls Kevin Cheveldayoff and says ‘k we’re interested, here’s what we are willing to do’. As of yesterday the market around Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele was actually quiet. It’s quiet on those two pieces. Maybe something develops here in the days ahead.”
He went on to say teams are heading to Nashville and that he thinks things will get rolling.
You can listen to the segment here.
