Elliotte Friedman was on Edmonton’s 630 CHED on Friday afternoon.

As part of a much larger discussion on defensemen, and on if he thinks both guys (Sami Vatanen and Hampus Lindholm) in Anaheim theoretically could be in play:

“You know what? I have a theory that what Bob Murray could do in Anaheim is he could make them – is he could play them next year under their qualifying offers.

Really.

“Yes. I think it’s possible. I will tell you that another team told me that they think that – and I’ll tell you this, I think teams are rooting for him to do it, because they think the second contracts have gotten out of control. They all want somebody else to do it. They don’t want to do it themselves.

“Ultimately, I don’t think that’s what Anaheim wants to do. But there are a couple of teams that think that’s what Anaheim is prepared to do.”

(The conversation included a lengthy discussion on Justin Faulk and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and any possibility of a trade, along with the importance of each to his respective team. There was also some talk of Connor McDavid and Calder considerations, how he thinks Tyson Barrie is definitely in play and is likely to move on from the Avalanche, how the Dallas Stars may approach their defensemen in the off-season – and if they’ll buy out Kari Lehtonen, some NHL coaching tidbits, and more.)

Source: 630 CHED/ Transcript: Nichols

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