Friedman: Will Canes hit the trade market?

Elliotte Friedman was on Sportsnet 960 Friday morning.

On the aftermath of Jordan Staal’s injury:

“Eric Staal I think was really disappointed for a lot of reasons in the way last year went... So was Jordan. I don’t think Jordan’s relationship with Kirk Muller was always great. I know I think sometimes Muller was frustrated that Staal was worried about the numbers and was trying to get him to say ‘Look, I don’t care how much money you make – just be Jordan Staal and that’s okay.’ And I think at times Staal felt the need to justify his salary. I think there was a bit of an uneasy relationship between the two of them.

“I think Eric and Jordan really were determined after last year’s disappointment that they were going to lead this team to be better and I still think Eric is going to have a great year. But there’s no question it becomes so much harder now.

“Staal’s a horse, but you’re looking maybe at Lindholm, a 19-year-old, being your No. 2 center. In this league - obviously goaltending is so important - but when you’re thin at center, that’s the position where you really get exposed.

“I think that the Hurricanes – and one of the things I’m trying to look into is are they really going to go by committee as they said yesterday, or are they going to go out and try to add somebody. And I just wonder, when you have a young kid like Lindholm, if he’s not ready, do you do long term damage by putting him in the middle right away. So I think that’s a big question they’re going to have to answer over the next week or so.”

Source: Sportsnet 960/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey