Dreger on Vermette, Senators, Rangers, Blues, Ducks, Canadiens

Darren Dreger was on Toronto’s TSN 1050 on Thursday evening.

On how much he thinks Antoine Vermette may fetch, and how many teams are going to be in on him:

“He’s going to fetch a lot. At least the asking price of Don Maloney of the Arizona Coyotes is high and understandably so, even though he is a pending unrestricted free agent. The expectation of salary is scaring some. Unofficially, it’s believed to be north of $5 million per, at least that’s what he’s expected to command on the open market.

“So when you pay a premium for a rental, you at least want to believe that you might want to take a stab at keeping him off the free agent market. But that’s a pretty big number at this stage of Antoine Vermette’s career. But he can help teams now, and he’s going to help teams in the foreseeable future.

“But there’s a list of teams that are in the mix here. Ottawa, up until very recently, was keen to get Antoine Vermette back. But I think the Senators are now understanding of where they’re at in the Eastern Conference standings, and they’ve backed off a little bit.

“The New York Rangers have interest. St. Louis has interest. Anaheim. Montreal. Go down the list. I mean, Maloney has worked this magically in that he’s created this auction type of environment. But it comes to a certain point where you also have to pull the trigger. Otherwise It becomes kind of the elephant in the room, and I wonder if that’s not what’s happening with the Coyotes now with Vermette.

“The asking price I’m told, at least according to a team - is a first round pick and a good prospect or a very good young roster player. That’s a lot for a player who may not be with you in a few months from now.”

Source: TSN 1050/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey

Nichols on Hockey

Nichols on Hockey

Worth Reading

Nichols on Hockey

Nichols on Hockey