Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun joined Ryan Rishaug on Thursday to discuss the latest on the Edmonton Oilers' interest in Kelly McCrimmon as their next general manager, as well as Matt Duchene's contract negotiations with the Senators.
Who's at the top Oilers' GM wish list?
I think what we really have to discuss here is timing. I would think that Vegas would want to wait till the off-season to allow McCrimmon to go elsewhere to become a GM. Most NHL teams would want that. McCrimmon's work is valuable to the Golden Knights, they're a playoff team and a contender. I suspect that these are all hindrances that the Oilers will run into.
Ryan Rishaug: Think of the mechanics of the Oilers speaking to McCrimmon. The Golden Knights are a team in Edmonton's division and McCrimmon is one of Vegas' best and brightest minds. An interview with McCrimmon at this time would basically be Oilers CEO Bob Nicholson bringing him into his office and basically saying 'what do you think we should do about the Oilers, and how can we fix our problems?' That's tough. I don't think anybody would blame McPhee if he made McCrimmon wait to interview with Edmonton.
LeBrun: And as it is, we know for a fact that Seattle has begun its internal search for its first-ever GM, and McCrimmon is on the list of names that Seattle has come up with. They haven't approached Vegas yet, Seattle is waiting, I believe, for the off-season to do just that. Basically what we're saying is that, it's good to be McCrimmon right now because I think he's going to be in demand during the off-season.
Rishaug: And this is an opportunity for Nicholson to interview some of the best and brightest minds in the NHL and say 'what would you do to fix us?' And Nicholson likes to gather information, no question about that.
What's the latest on Matt Duchene?
Rishaug: And if the Duchene situation isn't big enough, we know that the Senators have begun negations with Mark Stone as well.