On the Montreal Canadiens and Alexander Radulov …
John Lu: Alex Radulov responding to the report that he’s asking for an eight-year contract extension.
“It’s not even close, what they saying. I don’t even know how this … I just don’t want to even discuss that because it’s nothing I can really control, I was sick yesterday and I got a phone call from my agent, (who said), ‘There’s something going on, some people talking.’ so I was like, ‘Who’s talking? No one knows nothing about it,’ so I even talked to Marc (Bergevin) today and it’s like someone throw it in hte Internet, or whatever it was, and it doesn’t make sense.”
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Bob McKenzie was on TSN 690 radio talking about Montreal Canadiens pending free agent forward Alexander Radulov.
“I’m sure in a perfect world the Montreal Canadiens probably want another one-year deal. They know they’re not going to get it. The agent probably knows they’re not getting an eight-year deal. But you start there and work your way down.”
Radulov has been very important for the Canadiens this season, though he’s slowed of late likely due to some injuries he’s been dealing with.
“So now the question becomes – I’m sure the Montreal Canadiens, in a perfect world, would love to give him a three-year deal. He’s going to be 31 years old by the time this deal kicks in. Take him through to 34. And if you’re Radulov, you’re like, ‘Yeah, that’s not going to happen,’ because he knows if he goes to the open market on July 1, somebody is going to give him more than three years. Now, how many more years? That’s a really good question. And I don’t know the answer to that question.”
McKenzie continues with if they add more years, the dollar amount should come down. He might have to take a little less from someone to get a six or seven year deal. Last offseason there were multiple teams interested in him but he thought the Canadiens were the best fit for him.
“So it’s going to be fascinating to see if the Montreal Canadiens will go as high as five years, which seems like the mid-point. And if I were Radulov, I would want to try to get something that takes me by my 35th birthday, so that I’m not up for a contract and asking for a 35-and-over deal where most teams then are only going to be prepared to give you a year at a time because of the different rules for players who are 35-and-over in the NHL.”
