Trying to find the article by Joe Smith (Bolts beat), but he said that Yzerman wanted Miller, and Gorton then asked for Namestnikov in return.
In that order.
Yeah, but I am pretty sure both GMs would claim to have gotten the players they wanted, not guys they had to take to make the big picture work.
Just saying, Gorton is not calling up Stevie Y saying hey I got this young 24 y/o winger named JT Miller do you want him and I would want X and Y does it sound good? It’s not the rumor boards we are talking about...
It’s pretty simple, nobody want to show their hand. But you also don’t want to waste time and lose all respect for each other by having to deal with ridiculous feelers left and right.
-Yzerman knows McD is available. JT Miller too. Gorton let everyone know who was available.
-When the first contact is made Yzerman isn’t calling up Gorton offering X or Y or Z, he asks what Gorton is looking for.
-In the next step Yzerman makes available information on pieces he might consider to move that fits Gorton’s bill.
-Gorton consider that info and the talk proceeds back and forth. He might let Stevie know that it’s not enough, he need more names, might point at a player or two not made available, might ask for more pieces on the list than Y is willing to move and so forth.
But sometimes there is an illusion that GMs like present “proposals” to each other like we do at this place that definitely is false. Like Yzerman calling up Gorts “Jeff are you in front of the computer? I am mailing something big to you are you prepared?” And there is a mail sent with a Tampa logo with 4 names under it and a NYR logo with 2 names under it. “Fantastic right? Do we got a deal?” It wouldn’t work because it would just be so ineffective and it would also really test the respect these guys ha e for each other. The first offer would have to be low ball offers. You don’t want to ask for a 2nd round if you could get a 1st. It’s also two professional GMs we are talking about, there can only be a very very minor part of “selling” an offer involved. You don’t care one bit what the other guy thinks about one player or prospect or whatever, you can of course only trust your info.