Friedman: Kessel Trade Talks Getting Serious

Elliotte Friedman was on Sportsnet on Saturday evening.

On Phil Kessel:

“At the combine there were teams and executives apparently – a lot of them asking each other, ‘What do you think of Kessel? What’s your opinion of him? Where do you think he’s going in his career?’

“From what I understand out of that, teams are starting to call the Toronto Maple Leafs and say, ‘If we’re serious about doing this, what is the price going to be?’

“I don’t think this is going to happen, IF it happens, for another couple of weeks. But I think we’re at the phase now where the serious teams who want to talk about him are going to Toronto and saying, ‘What are we looking at if we want to get this done.’ “

Source: Sportsnet/ Transcript: Nichols

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Elliotte Friedman was on Calgary’s Sportsnet 960 on Monday morning.

On Phil Kessel:

“I think what it is is that teams who are serious are starting to make contact and say, ‘Okay, what are we dealing with here.’ This is not tire-kicking. These are the serious offers that are starting to come in.

“The dangerous thing – and the reason I didn’t name any teams – is because I wasn’t sure and after what happened (laughs) on Friday, I didn’t want to do any guessing.

“One of the teams I automatically assumed was going to be there was Nashville and I’m just not sure that there’s a match to be made there. It would seem on paper there is, but I’m not sure there is.

“So I think there’s teams there that are really starting to say, ‘Okay, what is this going to do here.’

“The other thing I found out was it hasn’t gotten to Kessel yet. And there’s no way that this deal is getting made without Kessel being involved in it because a) he’s got a list of teams he can go to. I think it’s only eight teams. And secondly, if you’re acquiring him, you want to make sure that he’s on board. That’s why I still think it’s pretty early guys – because if he doesn’t know about it, we’re not really at the point where it’s anywhere close to happening.

“And this kind of trade, I don’t think it happens fast. I think it takes a week or a little bit of time for the two teams to sort of talk to each other, go back and forth and figure it out in terms of what’s going to happen.”

Source: Sportsnet 960/ Transcript: Nichols