Mason McTavish is skating in Ottawa and is not with the team, and there appears to be little movement on a new deal
The Chris Johnston Show: Chris Johnston on Anaheim Ducks RFA forward Mason McTavish, who remains unsigned and has left Anaheim for Ottawa.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
“Whereas, you know, the McTavish Anaheim situation, you know, as I detailed in our last show, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s big money when you’re talking long-term deals for him. You know, he does have some pretty strong comparables, and the sides just aren’t in the same ballpark. Doesn’t sound like there’s really been a whole lot of movement.
Now that, that can change pretty quickly in a negotiation. And really that’s the stage all three of these players (McTavish, Luke Evangelista and Luke Hughes) find themselves in is, is the pressure starts to mount right on both sides of the equation. Don’t get me wrong.
You know, you saw Pat Verbeek make comments in the media, and I’m talking about, you know, McTavish is going to be behind now. Like that, these days in camp are important. And I do think history shows that. I mean, it’s, it’s tough for players to miss all or part of camp and jump in and be ready.
But, you know, this is, this is the one area of the CBA I find players kind of get in the no man’s land before they have arbitration rights. There’s, there’s no way to force a deal right. The only way is to take a bad, what the players deem to be a bad deal if they want to get back to work or don’t, basically don’t show up to work, and hope that the teams miss them or start to feel their own pressure. Whether it’s from ownership or what have you.
But right now, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of pressure. I mean, we’re talking about this, but I don’t get the sense, you know, there’s not like people in each of these markets going crazy yet. And so this, these guys might have to sit a while and just kind of have to see where everything lands.
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