Early Season Trades Are Rare Because of Salary Cap Implications
Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period was on TSN Radio in Montreal on Monday and was asked why it is so hard to make trades so early in the season.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
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Host: Dave, do you think this can be a rare instance, and not just with the Canadiens, you know, but we’ve heard things about Utah as well, with the pair of injuries on their back end. Could we actually see early season trades, which are so rare in the National Hockey League?
Dave Pagnotta: They are rare primarily because of the financial implications that are tied that are kind of tied to them, because it’s not easy making these types of moves and jolting the dollars around and things of that nature. The reason we’re hearing more of these types of things now is because I mean from Utah’s perspective, they had injuries.
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Obviously, John Marino gone for four months, Sean Durzi gone for up to six months. Can the young kids step up and are those guys going to be able to fill the void, or are they going to have to look elsewhere? Well, if they’re going to have to look elsewhere, if you’re starting that process in a period of panic, nobody’s going to be phoning any lifelines, so you’re probably not going to maximize that deal.
So you start doing your due diligence early to say, ‘All right, well, who’s going to be available? Who may be available? What pieces could we pursue down the road when we actually decide we need to make a move?’ And you leverage that by saying, Well, I can go after this guy, but these two guys on these other teams are in the mix as well.
So you try to minimize the overall damage in terms of what you have to pay. The acquisition costs could potentially be a little bit lower there. So a lot of teams kind of looking around, we know, like LA, you know, some of these teams also pinpoint things in camp, and that carries out into the season.
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LA, for example, started exploring the market for a bottom-six center, and that search has continued. But it’s not like they’re itching to pull the trigger or desperate to make a move unless something kind of falls into their lap. It’s a similar situation from the Canadiens side of things.
So teams are always out there trying to make or try to do their due diligence and see if they can make moves early if anybody drops price, but that cap, it can be tricky, and that’s hindered a lot of teams from their ability to make moves early on in the season.
I think this is just more teams doing more due diligence now, some of it by need overall, and some of it due to injury. You know, the Islanders as well. They lost Anthony Duclair for a couple of months. Look around and see what’s available. Doesn’t mean they’re going to make a move now, but maybe something pops up and becomes an opportunistic deal to make in a few weeks.”
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