Dougie Hamilton’s name was out there, but Ondrej Palat’s may not have been
NHL Network: Elliotte Friedman, on the New Jersey Devils having a couple of deals blocked. Friedman’s heard Dougie Hamilton‘s name, but not Ondrej Palat. Don’t believe that the Devils’ package was good enough, and their shortage of healthy bodies at the moment.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Mike Rupp: “What do we make of this situation? Some of the rumors out here on Dougie Hamilton, Ondrej Palat.
Friedman: “All right. Well, you know, I’d say this guys, that probably a lot of this is my fault. Because in the lead up to the Quinn Hughes, I’d said that there were, like, one of the reasons I think a lot of the Hughes stuff got out before he got traded was because I think the Devils were trying to move some pieces.
I think they were legitimately trying to move some guys, and some deals got blocked. And that’s why I think, I kind of found out about it.
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Now I will say this, I was trying to tread carefully because I haven’t spoken to the individuals in particular, and I always like to try to speak to guys before, or the representation before something ends up, or their team. I have never heard Palat’s name. I have never heard his name. Now that, I’m not saying anybody else is wrong or anything like that. But all I’m saying is that, personally, I have never heard Palat’s name.
I have heard Hamilton’s name. And I just think the Devils know that, you know, he’s in a situation where he’s got a 10-team trade list, I believe it is. And I think they know that if they want to get a deal done for him, it’s probably going to have to be one of those teams. I don’t know that he’s inclined to go anywhere, that he’s not, that he’s not agreed to when he sent in his list earlier in the summer.
And you know, the other thing about that is, those aren’t the only guys. There are other guys, but they’re probably the biggest names, so that’s why they get all the attention.
Now, the other thing I would say about all this guys is that I don’t think the Devils were going to be able to outbid Minnesota for Quinn Hughes. I just think when you look at the package, and you guys can all decide, you guys are all big hockey guys. Two of you played Mike. You watch more hockey than God. You can decide based on what we suspect is the Devil’s package, would you have taken the Minnesota package or the Devil’s one? And I think most people say they would have taken the Minnesota one.
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So I think what happened here was the Devils realized they weren’t going to get him, and they pulled back. They pulled whatever names they had out there off the trade block, because they’re so short-handed now, and they’re beaten up. That if they trade people and don’t get Hughes, they’re even more short-handed.
So what I believe is, we kind of have to wait to see what the Devils go after here. I still think a guy like Ryan O’Reilly is on their radar. And you know when the time comes that they want to go out and get somebody, that’s when I think we could be watching multiple moves from the team that you won the Stanley Cup with, Michael.
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