Friedman: ‘Pretty Hot’ Trade Market for Kerby Rychel

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

On Kerby Rychel:

“I reported last week about Kerby Rychel potentially being available for Columbus. I’m hearing the market on him is pretty hot, that a lot of teams are calling. They’re looking for a defenseman in exchange, whether it’s straight up for him or it’s part of a package. I think there’s a lot of interest in that guy. There are a lot of teams that look at him and say, ‘He’s the kind of player that we want.’ “

On why Columbus would move him:

“If you look at their roster, they are loaded with young forwards. They’ve got Boone Jenner, they’ve got Marko Dano. They’ve got Alex Wennberg. They’ve got Bjorkstrand – the kid who scored 61 goals in Portland this year. They’ve just got a lot and they really feel they’re thin on defense, so they’re dealing from a position of strength there.

“The other thing too guys is I think you’ll start hearing the trade talk heat up in the next week or so because a lot of teams are having their scouting meetings. I think teams are going to look at it like, ‘Okay, now that we sit down and we’ve kind of looked around,’ They’re making their draft lists, and they’re starting to say, ‘Here’s who’s available and here’s who we’re going to look for.’

“So I think you’ll start hearing some of that filter out over the next week.”

Source: Sportsnet 960/ Transcript: Nichols