Admits to feud with Seattle GM

Linke called it one of the most exciting times of his life and one of the most frustrating times also

At an Expansion Draft party Linke addressed the media and the fans about the expansion process. Linke admitted that he and Seattle Stoners GM Ryan Shuck had multiple disagreements during the process and were not on speaking terms for the six weeks prior to the draft. Linke stated that two days prior to the trade deadline he presented Shuck with three trade proposals, all which would have landed the Capitals prospects and Shuck turned all three down stating “no more trades until after the trade deadline to maximize our returns”. Linke stated that because of the amount of work involved in the three transactions he needed these three transactions to proceed and then would agree to no more transactions. Shuck declined. Linke stated he did reach out to a drunken Shuck in Las Vegas about two things he needed to happen to reopen the lines of communication and still hasn’t heard from Shuck. Linke then took an apparent swipe at Shuck asking “did anyone see any maximized returns between the trade deadline and the expansion draft”.

Linke stated he was excited to come out of the process with both the number one skater, Alex Tuch and the number one goalie, Malcolm Subban.  When asked if the “sniping” of Subban from under Shuck’s nose (who had the # 1 goalie selection) contributed to the disagreement Linke stated “you would have  to ask him”. Linke further stated he worked out a trade for Subban early in the process for either he or Shuck to send a # 3 draft pick for Subban. Shuck refused to move a #3 for Subban and refused to allow Linke to trade for Subban and work out a deal for Shuck to skip Subban. Shuck miscalculated that no one would trade for Subban.

Linke stated there was two ways to go in the process. One was to draft mostly established NHL players who would have to be protected in the waiver draft, expecting to lose three. Linke stated that he considered drafting this way and stashing players in the AHL. Linke chose the second way getting a balance of 20 NHL players and 20 players who will start the season in the NHL. Linke mentioned the importance of having roster flexibility going into free agency and he waiver draft.

Linke admitted to going for younger players than Seattle, taking Alex Tuch, Remi Elie and Dominic Simon within the first five picks. Linke acknowledged that the other GM’s placed a premium on protecting younger forwards. Elie and Simon are entering their age 23 season while Tuch is entering his age 22 season. The remaining top five picks were Christian Djoos (age 23 season) and Jordan Oesterle (age 26 season). Linke explained it was important to have a couple of d men with some offensive potential.

The sixth expansion selection was dealt in the Alex Tuch trade.

Now came the goalie stage. With Subban and prospect Adin Hill (age 22 season) in his back pocket due to previous trades Linke was able to select Eric Comrie and Vitek Vanecek (both entering age 22 seasons) with his first two selections. Linke explained the importance of having some young goalies who are minor league eligible. The third goalie selection was moved in the Subban trade and Linke guessed right that some talented keepers would fall to him with his last selection. Linke stated he was more than happy to select Jon Gillies. When asked about not selecting Alex Lyon Linke wondered where that was coming from stating “if I had a nickel for every GM who asked about trading for Lyon in a draft and trade I would be flat broke”.

When asked about his expectations for next year Linke promised they wont be fun to play against, mentioning Nick Cousins, William Carrier, Radko Gudas, Tim Schaller, Tom Wingels, Liam O’Brien, Antoine Roussel and Nicholas Deslauriers for their size and / or grit.  

As for the young prospects Linke admitted that there will be some misses but stated he would rather take (16) 22 year olds (which he did) then take some older players with little or no upside.

Linke promised that the organization “is going to follow the plan” to build the team the right way. He did state the other teams have kicked the tires on the # 5 selection in the upcoming draft but doesn’t anticipate any moves.