Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas on 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – episode of Sid’s Coming Back, on Toronto Maple Leafs Max Pacioretty and Nick Robertson.
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Bakauskas: “Okay, Toronto Maple Leafs, a few trades, signing week. Nick Robertson, they signed him for one year. Jani Hakanpaa enters the defense on a one-year contract.
And Elliotte, if I’m not mistaken. I mean, you’ve linked those two since the beginning of free agency. This week, it becomes official Max Pacioretty signing the PTO. So he, along with Steven Lorenz, came to camp looking for a full-time gig.
It’s been a busy few days in Toronto, and now they’ll have a busy schedule to start training camp.
Friedman: “Yeah, and sometimes, like those handshake deals, keep quiet until they’re done.” But Alan Walsh is Pacioretty’s agent, he just came out and said, there’s a contract here. “
Bakauskas: “Strange sound.”
Friedman: “We are, yes, there are no secrets there. That, you know, the funny thing about that is, so I took my wife and son to see Pink this summer at the Rogers Center, and we went into Pacioretty down the road.”
Bakauskas: “Not really.”
Friedman: “I came, I said Hello to him. I said, I said, What are you doing here? And he gave me like ‘Oh, I’m here visiting friends.’ And I didn’t think too much about it because I was with my family. You know, that one just hit me in the face, and I missed completely. Like, it’s not completely missed, that he was obviously here, you know, skiing and working for rent at the time.
One thing I really think about Treliving is, I think he’s ready to have some competition here. I don’t think he and (Craig) Berube are afraid, you know, hey, if you get a good offer, you go, right? But I don’t think they’re afraid to let other players look at this and think, ‘Am I in a bubble here?’ Don’t get too comfortable. I don’t think they are afraid of that.
I think they want the competition. I think they want to see who is driving. And it wouldn’t surprise me, you don’t need to have your lineup set until the day before the season starts. So it wouldn’t surprise me if the Leafs, let this play out a bit. And I think that’s their strategy. Also, you can get a good offer. He says, we have to take this. I think they’re interested in making their camp more competitive, so we’ll see where that goes.”
Bukauskas: “Were you surprised that despite the trade request at the beginning of the summer that Nick Robertson signed in Toronto for one year?”
Friedman: “I think the options were limited. I think, as we said last week, it didn’t do him any good to sit out. And I say this as a really stubborn guy, like me, a really annoying stubborn guy.
So I get where Robinson is coming from, but sometimes you have to take a knee and be pregnant with defeat. Bend the knee, as they say in Game of Thrones, Kyle, bend the knee.
And this was a time for Robinson when it was better for him to just say, okay, I’m coming and I’m going to do this. So I think you did the right thing. I don’t think it was easy to convince him, but I think he did the right thing.
And again, there is, there will be an opportunity here. And the thing that benefits the Maple Leafs, and it also benefits him, is that when he plays well, everybody wins. He wins as he puts himself in a good position. The team wins because Robertson plays well. So there is, there is a great benefit for everyone involved here to do this work.
I also think Kyle, you know, sometimes teams are pushed by players when they’re strong. So when a team thinks they have power, sometimes they like to back down. and I think that really happened with Robertson. “
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