Coyotes Tonight 14-Oct-13

[Parker]

<transcribed from Luke Lapinski's Coyotes Tonight radio show>

LL: If you're just joining us, I have Coyotes GM Glen Ramsden here in the studio, and he'll be answering a few questions from callers in just a moment. Thanks for taking the time to join us, Glen.

GR: Happy to do it. I think it's important to engage the fan base in these kinds of Q&A sessions. I wish I had time to do it more often.

LL: I'm sure the fans are very grateful for this. Callers, we don't have a lot of time here so please skip the pleasantries and get straight to your question. First up is Dave from Scottsdale.

Dave: Hey Luke, first-time caller but long-time listener. Mr. Ramsden, wow, what an honour. Huge fan of your work. Huge fan.

LL: What's your question, Dave?

Dave: Sorry... I heard we got Kaberle back. Is that true?

GR: Yep, Tomas Kaberle is in Phoenix, and he'll be dressing for the game against Ottawa. Columbus was forced to expose him to re-entry waivers, and he's an obvious steal at half his salary. We're almost at the cap already though, so we've had to make some tough roster decisions. To make room for Kaberle's $2,537,500 cap hit we had to send down a defenseman, and unfortunately Bryan Allen is the odd man out. We wanted to call up Andrej Nestrasil as he's the best fit for both role and cap hit right now, which meant finding close to $1.3M in additional cuts. The hardest part of my job is sending a guy down when he's been doing his job, and Daniel Winnik has been very effective in his role. However, it's also my job to put the best product on the ice within the constraints of league rules, and the upgrade that Tomas Kaberle represents over Bryan Allen is of significantly greater value than what Daniel Winnik represents over Andrej Nestrasil. It's cold-blooded, but it's my job. Sometimes it's not an easy job.

LL: Winnik's protected from waivers so there's no risk of losing him. At least there's that. What are your long-term plans for him?

GR: Honestly, that's still up in the air. Danny deserves better, and whether that means trading him, or trading someone else to make room for him, we don't know yet. But we are working on it.

LL: Good to hear. Next up is Nathan from Chandler.

Nathan: This is supposed to be a contending team. A 4-2 start isn't bad, but right now we're behind Calgary, LA, Winnipeg, whatever, but Edmonton and Anaheim? If they're for real, the conference just got a lot tougher. Are you worried that the losses of guys like Korpikoski and JovoCop is hurting the team more than your team of accountants told you it would?

LL: I don't really like the phrasing of that question, but I suppose it is somewhat topical.

GR: It is. Team chemistry is tough. Putting together a great team under the salary cap can be tough. I think we went over that already though. Andrew, I'm not concerned about our start. Of our six games, five have been on the road. We went 3-2 in those five games. If we play .600 hockey on the road all season, I'll consider that very successful. Getting shut out by Detroit stung, but we were missing our best defender in that game, and Cory Schneider simply stood on his head. I'm proud of the way the boys rebounded with a solid win in Philly the next night, and then Philly turned around and beat Detroit the night after that. Hockey's a funny game.

LL: It sure is. We've got time for one more call. Sid from Tempe, you're on the air.

Sid: Hi guys. Thanks for doing this. My question is what does Vladislav Namestnikov have to do to earn a shot? The guy scores a point per game in the AHL and runs over anyone he can't skate circles around. On top of that, he had outstanding numbers in preseason. Instead you promote guys like Hertl and Chris Brown and bring in Brian Sutherby, a bum who hasn't scored more than five goals in a season since 2007? No wonder he was available as a free agent - nobody else wanted him! Free Namestnikov!

GR: <chuckling> Slava's a special talent, no question. We love what he's done so far in his development. We want him to build up his strength a little more though, and we feel he has a better opportunity to do that with lots of ice time in Portland rather than a support role in Phoenix. We like the chemistry our top two lines are developing so we don't want to make any big moves there. We didn't have room under the cap for both Tomas and Slava, as much as we'd like to have them both on the team, and Tomas is better suited to the role of a checking centre than Slava is. It's the same thing with Chris Brown and Brian Sutherby. Are they more talented players than Slava Namestnikov? No, but they are more suitable players for the roles we had available. Slava is definitely in our long-term plans, though; we see him maturing into a game-breaking power forward.

LL: Looks like we're about out of time for this segment. I'd like to once again thank Glen Ramsden for joining us, and of course thanks to the fans for tuning in and calling in. Until next time, this is Luke Lapinski for Coyotes Tonight.

[Calgary.Flames]

Next caller on the line:

"Hey Glen, what's up with Jordan Staal? His name was on everybody's lips during pre-season. Didn't you try to trade him? And what about Alex Grant? It's been well documented the team is trying to trade him, but now they pick up Kaberle on re-entry waivers... dafuq man!?"

[Parker]

Next caller on the line:

"Hey Glen, what's up with Jordan Staal? His name was on everybody's lips during pre-season. Didn't you try to trade him? And what about Alex Grant? It's been well documented the team is trying to trade him, but now they pick up Kaberle on re-entry waivers... dafuq man!?"

Fair questions. I said I'd trade Staal for the right return, but nobody has offered it yet. One GM showed particular interest but our mutual cap issues made a trade impractical at the time. As well, I am happy to keep Staal after having managed to get the team under the cap in spite of his salary. Grant is the same issue; I like him and I'd only move him in a particular type of trade, but an exact match hasn't yet materialized. As for Kaberle, like I said, he's a steal at half his salary. I'm honestly amazed nobody else snagged him.