Dreger revisits trade potential of Hurricanes' Staal, Ward
/Darren Dreger was on Vancouver’s TSN 1040 on Tuesday morning.
On if the Carolina Hurricanes are motivated to move Eric Staal:
"Well, I think you have to have that conversation, don’t you. And as an organization, as a management group, ownership would be involved in that decision as well. You’ve got to bat it around.
“When we started speculation on that possibility in the first half of the season, early in the regular season, there wasn’t a lot of pushback coming from Carolina to say, ‘Well, that’s never going to happen.’
“But there was some behind-the-scenes pushback from not specifically Eric Staal, but from those who represent him to say, ‘Look, if that’s ever going to happen, obviously it’s going to come either at the request or the sign-off of Eric Staal.’
“And the Carolina Hurricanes would respect that.
“I doubt it happens in-season. It’s not impossible. I think we’ve passed that stage of any player, for the most part, outside of the obvious mega-stars of today’s game. But I do think that it’s conceivable to revisit it leading up to the deadline and obviously in the off-season.
“A name I am hearing out of Carolina, of course, is Cam Ward. And that name never seems to go away. Respectfully, not being shopped. But they’d like to move him for the very reason you said, because the Carolina Hurricanes want to lower their payroll.”
On how the Hurricanes have so many holes, and how Jiri Tlusty, Jay McClement and Andrej Sekera are not going to get them much further ahead next year:
“No. I wholeheartedly agree with that. But as Vancouver has experienced, Toronto, go down the list of those teams that have big-name players, big contracts, heavily-protected, guys who have been in the community for their entire careers - those are tough moves. They’re tough moves. Because as much as you want to maximize your return, you have to be respectful of the individual and his family.
“Again, when it comes to the specifics of Eric Staal – if this deal happens, if Eric Staal leaves Carolina, he’s going to leave on his terms.”
Source: TSN 1040/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey
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