Penguins/NHL
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A potential deal between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Florida Panthers involving winger Patric Hornqvist and defenseman Mike Matheson hit a snag after word of a trade was leaked by former NHL player Kevin Weekes, now with the NHL Network.
What’s at play here is that this trade scenario was wrongly proclaimed by Weekes as being a done deal and multiple sources say the two teams were least a few days away from being able to see if this trade scenario was going to get across the finished line, multiple sources say.
An accurate portrayal was the two sides being in serious discussions, not a trade being agreed too (yet). It never got that close to completion before the news came out.
The insurance issues of Hornqvist’s contract are well documented as being something that hadn’t been worked yet and is an issue for some teams considering Hornqvist due to his concussion history, but there were much more layers to this and word around the league this morning is that the deal falling through for now is more on Pittsburgh’s end than Florida not willing to roll the dice (insurance reasons) on bringing Hornqvist on board as head coach Joel Quenneville and senior adviser Paul Fenton have been estatic about the possibility of adding Hornqvist, sources say.
Among the factors league sources say:
1. Pittsburgh didn’t even get to the point yet where approval was given by D[hide]avid Morehouse and ownership to take on the term of Matheson’s contract, sources say. Doesn’t mean it wouldn’t have happened or won’t but league sources say it wasn’t going to be given.
2. Pittsburgh never once reached out to Patric Hornqvist personally or his reprsentation at Newport Sports about any willingness to play in Florida. One league source close to the situation says Hornqvist would have been willing to waive his no trade clause to Florida (which keeps trade a possibility to reignite) had Pittsburgh handled the situation in a professional matter but Pittsburgh now has a problem on their hands:
Hornqvist after helping the Penguins win two Stanley Cups is pissed that he nor his camp were at least given notice. Pittsburgh ran a similar play with Phil Kessel last summer in giving no notice to his camp that a deal with Minnesota was agreed upon.
For a few weeks now, there’s been rumblings that the Penguins are committed to moving Patric Hornqvist, whether the rare scenario of being able to dump his contract with little to no money coming back or the potential trade scenario that was being discussed with Florida, in making a hockey move for a younger player. The sense is that’s not what has Hornqvist and his camp pissed. I’m sure they’ve heard the rumblings he was being shopped for the last couple weeks, Newport Sports is aware of everything that’s out there, it’s the fact that Pittsburgh had zero communication with them about Florida as Hornqvist carried a full no trade clause. [/hide]
