Darren Dreger ignited a storm yesterday when he appeared on TSN radio in Toronto and said he was 'spitballing' about contract talks and options for the Winnipeg Jets and Ondrej Pavelec. It got even worse when Dreger tweeted today this bit:
Darren Dreger
@DarrenDreger
Follow
Pavelec is pending RFA with a big $ offer from KHL. It will take $4mil\multi years to keep him in NHL. Pay or trade him...Jets only options.
So it begins the war of words all through the media. So who is behind this? If you read my piece about the Pavelec talks which was posted on June 15th here:
Enemy to the Jets: Allan Walsh
You would know there may be some one driving this bus and madness to 4million per year.
While no one would question Pavelec's value to the Jets this is a marketplace and Pavelec needs to be compared to what the market has to offer. A good read for perspective is this fine article from Tim Bonnar
@tbonnar of Arctic Ice Hockey on Pavelec:
Myth Busting: Ondrej Pavelec
However what happened to take these talks to the point of going nuclear as the situation has this morning?
First look at the Winnipeg papers, there is nothing in them. nothing from Gary Lawless, Ed Tait, Paul Friesen or Ted Wyman. All of these guys have the ability and relationships to get something and put it to print should things of this magnitude going wrong.
Second, look at the blogosphere, only yours truly (yes I am honking my horn) raised the issue to where it is now. Many speculated after the KHL contract offer to Pavelec but none have come out with anything substantial about his NHL negotiations.
So where did Dreger get this info? It's unlikely that he reads my column but I would be flattered if he did, give me a plug would ya Dreg'! So who leaked something and took it public? I think it's Allan Walsh, Pavelec's agent.
Walsh is to agents what Burke is to GMs, boisterous, opinionated and combative and if you read my previous piece on him you will see the measures he goes to for his clients. I would assume he has gone even further this time and somehow TNSE is getting some heat as being cheap or 'hard negotiators'. For anyone who has worked in high level negotiations you know it takes two to tango and I highly doubt the Jets are standing firm with their best goalie asset.
Remember what I said about ultimatums in the last piece on Pavelec, comsider the two sides in this negotiation and ask who is more likely to take that approach? I think the answer is pretty obvious.
If it were up to me I would offer 2.75, 3.5, 3.75 for 10 million over 3 years.
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • 
Join the Discussion:
»