TSN hockey insider Darren Dreger joined the fellas on Overdrive yesterday for some hockey talk and he was asked by host Bryan Hayes which team should be “freaking out more, Calgary or Winnipeg?”.
Dreger gave a whistle and said “probably Winnipeg”. He then went into the problems that are currently facing the Flames but then he delves into Winnipeg.
“When you look at the roster of Winnipeg Jets, and I guess we have to give them the benefit of the doubt here. Maybe they get it back online and they go deep into the Western Conference playoffs. I mean that’ll play itself out. When you’ve got a goaltender like Connor Hellebuyck, it’s conceivable, but he’s part of the equation here. So automatically we’re looking at Pierre-Luc Dubois and has enough been accomplished or will it be accomplished by the time he has to make a decision. Everybody outside of Winnipeg believes this kid is likely leaving or wants to leave. Well then what happens after that? What do you do with Mark Scheifele? There’s lots of speculation around him. And if you lose two key forwards or you make a decision to move, then you bring Hellebuyck into the conversation? The off-season in Winnipeg I think is going to be a tremendous story.”.
The O Dog Jeff O’Neil asked Dreger “Why the hell does Dubois want to leave? He just wants to play for the Montreal Canadians and that’s it? There’s no other team in the world?”
“I don’t know O. That’s what people have speculated on and we can understand that. I sat with him prior to the start of the season and he talked about just wanting to keep his options open and make sure that he had the ability to decide. And I appreciate that. I do. The restricted free agents maybe never had more influence or collateral then they have now, especially when you’re talking about a guy like that. But I also know that Winnipeg looks at Pierre-Luc Dubois as a big part of the future. If he decides to leave it’s not going to be because Winnipeg didn’t ante up and didn’t offer term or offer top dollar. If he decides to force a trade then that’s going to be because, maybe, he wants to play in Montreal or wants to play somewhere else.”
Should be quite the summer in the ‘Peg.
If you’d like to listen it starts at the 5:48 mark below.
Itunes:
Spotify:
