Svechnikov denies trade rumors, asserting his commitment to the Hurricanes. He's bounced back strongly after a tough start, silencing speculation about his future.
On Saturday night, Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman reported that Carolina Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov was open to being moved at the start of the season.
At that time, Svechnikov opened up the year on an eight-game scoring, with not a single point to show for himself despite coming off of a strong postseason where he led the team in goals.
His play had diminished drastically as well and as such, he found his minutes slashed and down on the team's fourth line.
"He went the first eight games without a point, his usage was down, he was on the fourth line and he had a game where he was down just under 12 minutes," Friedman said. "He was unhappy and as I understand — I will say I haven't spoken to him directly — but I understand that the inference was made to the Carolina Hurricanes that if they wanted to trade him, he wouldn't be upset about it. That he would be open to the idea."
On Tuesday morning, Svechnikov refuted the report, stating there was "absolutely no" validity to it.
"Just a rumor and I really don't discuss those rumors, but thank you for the question," Svechnikov said. "For the last two years it's been like that. I deleted all of my social media a couple of years ago, so I don't read it."
Svechnikov said he found out about the report through a family member.
It's understandable that the Russian forward would be frustrated with the situation to start the season, but with as well as he's been playing as of late, with seven goals and 12 points in his last 14 games, and back to his usual deployment, this feels like a bygone issue.
"Obviously the first eight games were hard, but after that, I just stuck with myself and my game because I knew what kind of player I am and what I can bring," Svechnikov said. "Just have to remind myself sometimes and that's what I did."
"Every time a player doesn't get to play what we want, whether it's the agent or whoever, they're always calling, 'Hey, what's going on?' said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour on the report. "Well, sometimes you have to play better. He has and I think that's all put to bed."
Svechnikov said that he may have gotten more bogged down in rumors a few years ago, but that he doesn't really let it bother him all that much nowadays.
"To be honest, it's very easy to ignore," Svechnikov. "You just close your eyes and try to do your job because there's always going to be talk. Sometimes your hockey career will be up and down, so there's talk up and down. You try to just close your eyes and play your game and focus on hockey."
"It's business and it's all a part of it," Brind'Amour said. "I just don't even... like you just brought it up now. It meant nothing to me [at the time] because it is nothing. We know how much we love Svech. You want him to be upset about not playing that well. Want to play with the top guys? Well, you have to play like it and I think his play has definitely been that way lately."
Friedman also reported that teams called the Hurricanes on Svechnikov's availability, but the front office too, was not open to moving the winger.
"There were some teams that called the Hurricanes and they were told that they still consider him a cornerstone player and that this was not something they were looking to do, but if they were gonna ask, you're going to have to make a monster offer," Friedman said.
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