"Bergevin spent a week scrambling, or figuring out, what he was going to do at center," said Friedman on the latest 31 Thoughts Podcast. "We said last Saturday when we tapped the podcast that we thought there was a legitimate chance that Montreal wouldn't match. As the week went on I began to believe more and more that they weren't going to match, which is what they obviously did, but then you know you're sitting there and you're looking at your roster... you can't just say 'Ok we're letting Kotkaniemi go and we're done'. They had to have an alternate plan."
"I think they went after a few guys, I think they asked about obviously Hertl, obviously Dvorak, I wouldn't be surprised if they asked Washington about Kuznetsov but it didn't make any sense because they are in win now mode... I'm sure they asked Calgary about Monahan," said Friedman.