NHL Rumors: A Rutger McGroarty Trade Should Be Real Soon

Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek on the 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – Crown the Cats episode on Winnipeg Jets prospect Rutger McGroarty and how he’ll likely be traded real soon and what when down to get to this point?

** NHLRumors.com transcription

Marek: “Rutger McGroarty. So we mentioned this on the last podcast. He will be traded. Whether it happens before or at the draft, Elliotte, do you have a spidey sense or a finger in the wind on this one?”

Friedman: “I think it could happen before.”

Marek: “Okay.”

Friedman: “Someone told me be ready right after the Final. Be ready. There’s two things I was told, that to be ready for before the draft, McGroarty and UllMark (traded since the Podcast was recorded). I’m sure there’s other things out there. But those were the two things I was told. Be ready for them.”

Marek: “So do you have a thought here or any more clarity on how this all happened with McGroarty? Because the what, the one thing that I wonder about here is a sidebar to all of it. Whenever this majority deal gets done, if you’re Kevin Cheveldayoff and the Winnipeg Jets, one of the first things you want to do is change the story away from this kid doesn’t want to play with the Winnipeg Jets.

Much like Bryan Murray, you will recall after the Daniel Alfredsson situation happened, right away it was, changed the conversation, get Bobby Ryan in here. We need to have a positive story. I would imagine that if you’re Kevin Cheveldayoff, you need a positive story and I wonder if that moves the needle on a Cole Perfetti extension or something like that as a demonstration to the marketplace that look, young players do want to stay and play here.”

Friedman: “I don’t think you should make decisions like that.”

Marek: “Teams do. Teams do, Elliotte. They do.”

Friedman: “I know they do.”

Marek: “They do. You know this.”

Fredman: “You’re right. Teams do but put it this way, not my team if I, if I ever had a team. You can’t, and I recognize that public pressure can break things down. But especially in some markets as opposed to others public pressure can really have an effect, but you shouldn’t run your organization like that. That’s how you walk yourself into trouble.

And, look, I think the McGroarty thing broke down at the end of his season. Some of his teammates at Michigan, Frank Nazar was one of them, they made their NHL debuts. But Frank Nazar did it in Chicago, and they had nothing to play for.

Winnipeg was playing for the best possible position in a brutal division that featured Colorado and Dallas. And obviously, it didn’t work out, but that didn’t mean the process was wrong. You had to go for the best seeding you could get.

And it wasn’t like they could do it like Chicago could. But if you’re McGroarty, you see your friend get a chance to make their debut, you don’t get to do it, and there’s probably some level of FOMO. And then you here next year, you know what we’re not sure you’re ready yet. You’re not guaranteed a spot.

And if you have your choice between going back to a third year in Michigan, or going to the AHL in Manitoba, I don’t know what 20 or 21-year-old kid who wouldn’t pick going back to Michigan.”

Marek: “Especially with (inaudible).”

Friedman: “And I think that’s where it broke down. That’s where it broke down. Now I know the Perfetti has been brought up and Heinola has been brought up and you know, maybe that started to become a thing. Okay, somewhere down the road. It might be like that, but, but I think in general, it was a short-term thing that, I think the relationship changed when the past this year and the early path next year, it wasn’t open to him.”