On the talks with Vancouver: “Conversations with Patrik (Allvin) were underway. They were obviously interested in Marcus. It was a big business (in 2018) for the Penguins when Jim (Rutherford) was the managing director here. As he referred to last night, it was an excellent deal that worked very well for the Penguins. There was a deep familiarity and an appreciation for Marcus and everything he does. Patrik had come to see me earlier in the week. We have been going back and forth on this subject for a while. It seemed to get another asset that he was unable to offer before … that was how materialized. »»
On the quantity of discussions with Pettersson and his camp concerning an extension has progressed, and when it was no longer a viable option: “I think Marcus and Peter Wallen, his representative, had clearly indicated that he loved him to Pittsburgh and would have liked to have this conversation. I think I expressed this in September or October during the pre-season media (availability) … I had met Marcus and drawn personally after talking to their people, it was just that we thought that the best thing to To do to us was to protect all our options and not take this path to lock anyone without seeing how things have progressed in the season. It was not their lack of desire to be here, it was on our part to protect our options, to see where the season was going, to measure where we were and to measure what was best for the long team term. It was our decision not to engage deeply with that. »»
In the next deadline for trade (scheduled for March 7): “By entering the deadline, we will continue to have discussions that correspond to our strategy in our strategy. But we will also try to be in the mixture for all the young players who become available and can come to help our team. So we will try to use the active collection that we must now try to add to the group, if the good younger player is available. This collection of assets will bring us into these discussions. »»
In his hopes for the rest of the season, and how to avoid the discomfort that some guys admitted having established the deadline of last year: “I think last year was very instructive, honestly. So, last year, we were in this mixture. And what I tried to transmit to players – and I think the discomfort is the right way to say it – is that all the other teams that were in the same mixture that we also moved. Washington did the playoffs. They moved to the deadline and have moved guys for several years earlier on the deadline. Philly was in this mixture. They had to move the guys. And so we were not the only team of this mixture that had sold. And I think that if you go back and watch this month of February and March, if we had not been there, we would have collected more points and we would probably have been in the playoffs. This year is a little different. Some teams in recent weeks have separated, very frankly. The Islanders won six consecutive games. Columbus, they don’t seem to slow down. So we don’t have time if we want to run a race as we did last year. We don’t have time to see these points escape. So I think we have to learn (last year). I think that with young guys from Wilkes-Barre, hope is that it will provide us with a certain energy and we will be able to learn from last year and propel to have a significant race in February, March and April. »»
If it really starts to see the way to go and solidify with professions like this: “For me, I never want to put a calendar on anything because our goal is based on the types of people we have in the locker rooms and how much they have mean for the city and the franchise. We want to operate as urgent as possible to return the team there. We do not want to buy patience or say that it is in X for the number of years (or say our plan) in the year X, we hope to be at different times. Our goal is to try to acquire the assets we presented, then transform these draft choices and develop them into players who can help the team quickly – but not accelerate it to hinder the development of the player – Or, using them assets to be in the microphone when players who can have an impact are present and can help us. Previously, even this season, it was difficult to enter these conversations for us because we did not have this level of assets during when a very good young player becomes available. Now, having several first -round choices, seeing these young players start to develop – it makes us more and more in this mixture. We just have to continue to go on this path. »»
If there will be more opportunities for WBS players who have strong seasons: “I think what we would like to do with Wilkes players is – they really built something that happens there in terms of performance night in and evening. I like the way they react when things are not going well and of course, I think it was really pushed, especially recently, by the young players we brought here, written, acquired or were here before that Really come on. And so I think what we want to do with these players is when they win the opportunity to come not only play for a weekend but play for an extended section. Once they won it, we are not going to deny this opportunity to them. »»
On the reasons for which they saw Melvin Fernstrom classified so well evaluated in the last draft (he ended up going to Vancouver in the third round): “I think that the thing that stood out in the project is that when we interviewed him, he was known as an offensive and striking winger. And we interviewed him and he was very clear for us that his state of mind was in the right place. His goal for this year was to win a place in the SHL and, knowing that this role was not going to be a top scorer. And when we watched him this year for Orebro there, he was very competitive. At the age of 18, he was in their range every night. He does not play in the first two lines. He plays on the third or fourth line and on the second power game. But that’s what he does in competitive games. It is archived. For an 18 -year -old, he has almost 10 points. And he was a very good player for the national team in the past. All these players that you write have been mainly high -level players or high -level defenders. Very rarely, you write a junior player who was a guy lower in the line unless he is late in the draft and you think there is something that can burst. This will be that they adapt when they are lower in the range. Do they bring other elements when they do not mark and they are not on the first unit power play? And in his case, this is what he continued to show. When we interviewed him in the draft, which was only seven or eight months now, he showed an understanding of what the development path was going to be and what he was going to have to put it, and that is who then impressed us. And then as we follow all these guys – the department of Andy Saucier does it at an elite level – he performs everything he said, which is for us an important development attribute. “”
