Friedman on Bruins, Blues, Flyers, Blue Jackets
/Elliotte Friedman was on Calgary’s Sportsnet 960 on Monday morning.
On which teams will come out of the holidays hungry to make moves:
“I think Boston has been in that phase for a little while now. I really do believe they’re a team that would like to do some things. If you saw Claude Julien yesterday morning... Of all the coaches in the league, he’s one of my favorite to deal with, and he was snapping on the Boston media yesterday. Which is unusual for him. You can see he’s feeling the pressure, even though he’s got an extension. The patience is wearing thin there.
“Boston has got a real problem in the sense that their cap situation isn’t going to be any easier next year. Now Krug and Smith, I’ve written and said this before; I think when those two guys signed, they kind of have an idea of what their extensions are going to be for next year. But they’ve got to do Dougie Hamilton too.
“Ron Hextall said to me on Saturday when he was here for Philly that the thing that is scaring most teams now is term. They just don’t know because of the world economy and the Canadian dollar, where the cap is going, and a lot of these teams are sitting here and saying, ‘I don’t want to add guys with term.’
“I think Boston would love to make a move, but I think they’re scared of guys like Oshie who’ve got term. And that is the No. 1 hold-up right now.
“St. Louis, I don’t know if I see them doing too much until Brian Elliott gets back. I could be wrong on that one. But their goaltender situation is not as solid as they would like it to be.
“And I think the other one that’s going to be interesting is Columbus. All of the sudden they’re back in the playoff race, and they’ve got to deal with Nick Foligno. They really want to get Nick Foligno signed, and I’m not sure how easy it’s going to be. I think the Foligno-Columbus situation as to whether or not he signs is going to be one of the more interesting ones until the end of the season.”
Source: Sportsnet 960/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey