The Jets GM spoke to the media today. Primarily about the Clitsome signing but of course touched on other issues like RFA and UFA news.
Listen to the teleconference:
Audio courtesy of TSN Radio 1290.
If you cannot listen while at work here are some of the comments he made and which we tweeted;
– Clitsome is a player who seemed to improve his game as the games got more important last year.
– Clitsome is younger than many of the UFA defenseman, works very hard, and we think his game is going to grow still.
– Clitsome is very versatile. “Tremendous two-way defenseman”. We still think there is room for him to improve and grow.
– We were looking for a left-shot defenseman Grant fits that description. Gives us different options. Became stronger down the stretch.
– Too soon to say that the Clitsome signing finalizes the top 6 defenseman, too many moving parts still.
– Still working on getting RFA deals done. Focus has switched from the draft to free-agency period. Looking at all the options.
– Conversations had been on-going for a while, but as we got closer to the UFA discussion period, decisions were made re: Clitsome
– A little bit of negotiation in the last hours last night, but both sides had laid their cards during a meeting at the draft.
– “We are active in the currently on-goin UFA conversation period”
– Our conversations with our RFA’s are continuing as are any potential conversations regarding trades.
– We are in an interesting time, a little nuanced period with regard to free agency.
– We are having on-going conversations with Al Montoya and his agent, including as recently as last night.
– Like any big business, no deal is finalized until it is signed (with regard to reaching an oral agreement with a player.)
– Before we acquired Clitsome off waivers, we had a lot of good insight into him as a person and a player. Still young as a player.
– Trying to get better with players who have yet to reach their ceiling. Not a surprise to us that Clitsome wanted to stay here.
– Nice to see he was willing to commit to us, as we were willing to commit to him. A little more maturity to his game than before.
– Takes time for a defenseman to mature. Grant’s dev. process is still on-going & he will get a good chance to continue to improve.
