Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek on the 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – Aaron Sorkin Couldn’t Have Written a Better Ending episode on the Colorado Avalanche’s Gabriel Landeskog, Valeri Nichushkin and Jonathan Drouin.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Marek: “All right. You mentioned the Colorado press conference. Want to get your thoughts on this one. Gabriel Landeskog, Chris McFarlane, as well commenting on Landeskogs future. Landeskog said he is not retiring. I know that was a question as soon as we saw the announcement that there was going to be a press conference, and it’s kind of the first place your brain goes sometimes. And talked abouit the challenges in his rehab and trying to come back.
Also, some interesting comments about the future, if there is one, for Valeri Nichushkin and the Avalanche, Elliotte.”
Friedman: “Yeah, so they got the Landeskog thing out right away and I’m glad to hear he’s still gonna try. I think the organization is loyal to him and obviously, he’s loyal to them. And in a perfect world, he’ll come back.
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You know, everything I’ve heard about this injury is that people are impressed he’s even tried this long. You know, it’s a pretty serious injury. It’s a pretty tough surgery to recover from.
And you know, there are a lot of people in this league who couldn’t, who play hurt Jeff, but at least they can get in the lineup to play hurt. Like I remember with Shea Weber in Montreal, how many Habs players were like, I cannot believe what this guy is going through to even play. But he was playing.
And, but there are, I think there are a lot of players and not to say that they’re weak or anything because I don’t think they are, but they would have given up long before Landeskog has. And I just respect that about him that he wants to continue to try. It just shows you how these players, they just love hockey. And so I’m happy that he’s at least continuing to try because that’s obviously what he wants to do.
You know, Nichushkin they said it’s very plausible he’s back. He confirmed what we’d reported, which is that there’s no grounds to terminate him right now.
You know, the one thing that someone said to me about this situation is, is that it’s fluid. Because, you know, when you’re in the program at this level, you have to make sure you stay on a proper path. Someone from another team told me that that’s one of the things that becomes very important right now, is that the player has to stay on the path or else that can change.
But I think it’s pretty clear here that the Avalanche are looking at it from the two ways you have to look at it. There’s the, there’s the disappointment of he couldn’t play, but there’s the person. And, you know, obviously, they want, they want the person to do well, but they want to know, obviously, they want the person to do well that’s the most important thing. And but they also want to know from the business and hockey point of view, is he going to be dependable? And we’re just not going to have that answer in the short term.
So I think one of the biggest things that the Avalanche have to decide is, you know, how are they going to approach the summer? And that is do they go over the cap in the summer? Do they, and do they deal with the overages in the season next year?
Like do you just wait to see, can Landeskog play at the beginning of the year? You know you don’t have to. You know Nichushkin is out of the lineup until November. So you just say, okay, we’ll do what we need to do and we’ll deal with anything we have to deal with in terms of the salary cap, when Nichuskin is available, when Landeskog is available, or do we plan for the summer as if we’re going to have them both and we have to be careful.
And you know, I think that’s kind of what they have to decide. You know, they have some contracts they have to get done. And we mentioned Rantenan.
You know, the (Jonathan) Drouin thing is really interesting to me, because I think there’s a real sense there is a deal to be made there. Just because he’s in a situation where he’s happy. But you have to sit down. You have to figure out what everybody wants, and you have to work from there.
But I know, like one of my friends was an Avalanche fan, you know, he came out of that, he watched that media conference and he’s like, I don’t think they’re gonna be able to afford Drouin to stay. And my reaction to that is, I just think that Jonathan Drouin has to know how good this was. The Avalanche have to know how good this was. And I really believe that there’s got to be a path there. And I do believe there’s a path there. As long as both sides can work together.”
Marek: “I mean, he has to know, Drouin does, how many people most notably, Nathan MacKinnon, stuck their neck out to give him this chance. Now, he made the most of it. Full marks for that as well. But I mean, rewind to last summer, there wasn’t a whole lot of people screaming about, you need to sign Jonathan Drouin. Like Colorado believed in him, gave them this chance. Again, he made the most of it, but this was Colorado, really given this guy another opportunity, and some would say maybe his last opportunity.”
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Friedman: “I agree, Jeff, and I’m glad it worked out so well.”
Marek: “Yeah. You and me both.”
