Dreger on Oilers, Leafs, Reimer, Coyotes, Yandle, Red Wings

Darren Dreger was on Montreal’s TSN 690 on Thursday morning.

On how the Leafs should be on the phone now, shopping James Reimer while he’s hot:

“Yeah. Well, I can think of one team and it’s obvious. It’s the Edmonton Oilers. Every time I talk to somebody in Edmonton, they tell me that, ‘Look, stop talking about the need for a centre. That’s obvious. Stop talking about the need for a defenceman. That’s obvious. The top priority for this club is a goaltender.’

“They’ve lost so many one-goal games and the goaltending in Edmonton just has been brutal. Probably you can count on one hand, if not a few fingers, how many times either Fasth or Scrivens have played as well – let alone outplayed – the goaltender at the other end of the sheet. So Craig MacTavish should be making calls to the Toronto Maple Leafs because James Reimer for the most part this season, guys, when given an opportunity, has been very solid.

On what the Leafs might want in return from the Oilers, and how it probably wouldn’t be a defenceman:

“No, not that they wouldn’t want a defenceman. I know that again, the Keith Yandle rumours seem to be heating up as we all wonder what Arizona is going to do. Yandle’s name always seems to be out there. Detroit would have interest in Yandle. If he is available, and when he is available, and some believe it will finally be this year where he’s traded, I think Toronto would show some interest there.

“But Toronto’s needs are similar to a lot of teams. They still think they need some help up front. Open to ideas in their top nine. And also in their top six. They’re always in search of that centreman, but I think they can be categorized with a lot of teams who have visions of this Ryan Getzlaf-type of centreman landing in their lap, and that’s not going to happen.

“So yeah, I don’t know. Maybe a good young prospect and a juicy draft pick might get it done. But in saying that, I think Randy Carlyle loves what he has in Bernier and Reimer now.

On what you’d have to give up to get a guy like Yandle:

“Name it. He’s got one year left on his contract, I think at a 5.2 cap hit, so there’s some wiggle room in that sense too. Teams might be a bit more reluctant, say, if he had three years remaining on his contract, because then you start to wonder, ‘Well, why are they moving him?’

“But he’s a player that probably is going to earn more once his contract expires and you’re right, the asking price is going to be high. And if you’re the Arizona Coyotes – it needs to be high. You need to start identifying reality here that you don’t have anybody coming – with all due respect to Max Domi – that is going to make up a nucleus or let alone be a franchise-type player or collection of players that you can continue build on. So Maloney’s got a lot of work ahead.”

Source: TSN 690/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey