How Many Trades Will Happen Before the Olympic Break?
Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period joined Steve Kouleas and Nate Thompson on Sirius XM NHL Network. There, he was asked about the likelihood of teams making moves before the Olympic Break.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
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Nate Thompson: “This season with the Olympics. And that coming up, that looming with GMs. Like, is it a different philosophy this year going into the Olympics? Are they thinking, okay, I’ve got to make this trade before the Olympics, or is it closer to the trade deadline in early March?”
Dave Pagnotta: “I talked to a bunch of different GMs and other management types around the league. I spoke to Mathieu Darche with the Islanders. And you know the idea of making a move before the deadline, excuse me, before the Olympic Break is appealing to a lot of people. Because they get their business done a little bit sooner than normal. And they don’t have to go in this mad rush, because it’s 12 days after the Olympic freeze to the trade deadline.
They get business done early, and it also allows the player to get easily acclimated to his new surroundings. This isn’t throwing him right into the fire, where this is our new guy, he’s playing tonight. You’ll see him in a few minutes when he hits the ice for pregame. This gives them a lot more of an opportunity to get situated with their new surroundings, situated with their new team, and kind of grow from there.
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So there is a positive element to making something happen sooner. But obviously, it comes down to what two teams have to agree on, on a deal to make it happen. I think there’s a preference. I think some teams will look to try to make something happen this month and ahead of February 4th, when the roster freeze kicks in at midnight then.
But obviously, this league especially loves to work with deadlines. So this is the Deadline Junior, if they can’t work it out, they’re going to go, Okay, well, at least we got some time, some runway until the trade deadline. But I do believe that we’re going to see some activity leading up to Deadline Junior, the Olympic break.
NHLRumors.com Note: Something to watch is whether teams that thought they were in the playoff mix start to sell if losing continues. Could a Dougie Hamilton trade be coming, given what is going on between the player and the New Jersey Devils at this moment? There are only a couple of sellers right now, and this month will be crucial for many teams.
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