Dreger: McDavid, Eichel drive NHL trade speculation

Darren Dreger was on TSN 1040 Tuesday morning.

On the Carolina Hurricanes and if they’ll cut bait on this season at any point:

“Well, that’s what most believe. There’s a couple of reasons to believe that.

“No. 1: I think you start with the draft. You look at Connor McDavid and you look at Jack Eichel. And if you’re a team that knows it’s not going to be able to hang in there, then why wouldn’t you not do anything to improve. And so that’s No. 1.

“No. 2: If any of the players that we’ve speculated on are actually in play, it’s going to get complicated. Because I don't believe for a second that Eric Staal wants to leave the community or the organization. He believes in the Carolina Hurricanes. So he’s not going to ask out.

“But if Ron Francis gets to a point where Peter Karmanos pressures him to that point to ask Staal to waive his no-move clause, then that’s a completely different beast. But the unfortunate reality for the Carolina Hurricanes, for Eric Staal, maybe Tyler Myers, the Buffalo Sabres’ Chris Stewart – go down the list – is that because of the draft, we’re going to be speculating and talking about this based on intel from others until perhaps the trade deadline, March 2.”

Source: TSN 1040/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey