The Zach Werenski situation in Columbus got messy fast, then settled down just as quickly.
On the latest 32 Thoughts: The Podcast, Elliotte Friedman laid out how a possible move to the Dallas Stars spiraled into a full-blown public issue before the Blue Jackets and Werenski worked through it.
Friedman said Dallas was one of the teams Werenski was believed to be open to, but the message around that possibility got twisted along the way.
“So what I think is this; is that, that Dallas thing turned into, some people interpreted it as he will definitely go to Dallas. If Columbus makes a trade to Dallas, he will go there. And other people either meant it or interpreted it as, if Dallas it becomes available, bring it to us and we’ll make a decision then.”
He described the whole thing as a classic case of mixed signals.
“But it was like broken telephone, Kyle. It didn’t, whatever was meant, it wasn’t uni, it wasn’t agreed on unanimously by Werenski, the team, and the Stars.”
According to Friedman, Columbus and Dallas had a trade lined up that would have sent Thomas Harley and Mavrik Bourque to the Blue Jackets. He said the agreement came together on a Monday, but the deal could not be completed until Wednesday because bonuses had to be sorted out and the teams were still working through who would pay what.
Then the public side of the story made everything worse.
Friedman pointed to Aaron Portzline’s article that included Rick Bowness saying, ‘I’m surprised at all this, like. I, we looked each other in the eyes, and we thought it was going to be all okay.’
He said the timing of that quote landing as the situation was unraveling made the whole thing explode.
“I thought initially was an exclusive where Bownes said that Portzline, but it turned out it was in a scrum, and a bunch of other outlets, including NHL.com had that article as well.”
Once the story hit, Friedman said the situation turned into a firestorm.
“But whatever the case is, they took it to Werenski, he said ‘No,’ and the deal died. And I think Columbus basically said it’s Dallas or we’re keeping you. Because the trade, like Toronto, couldn’t do that, and neither could Tampa.”
From there, the message from Columbus was simple: Dallas or stay put.
“So I think it was, I think Columbus said it’s Dallas or us, and then it got out and it really exploded.”
Friedman also said the public reaction can hit players harder than people realize, especially when they have not gone through it before. He recalled a conversation with a player this week who described how private trade talks feel manageable until the reports and tweets start flying.
“once the articles and the tweets start coming out, it’s like, oh my god. Like, you may think, if you’ve never been through it before, you may think you’re ready for it to hit the social media whirlwind, but you’re not. If you’ve never been through it before, you don’t know what that’s like now.”
He contrasted that with veteran executives like Don Waddell and Jim Nill, who have seen plenty of situations like this before. Werenski, he said, is younger and had never been through anything comparable.
Friedman’s read was that the noise around the story hit Werenski hard.
“Like, it’s like, I don’t think Werenski is like a bad person at all. He wants to win, and I think he was probably a little stunned, a little overwhelmed, and you know, a little bit, probably embarrassed about the way it all played out.”
In the end, Friedman said the adults in the room handled it the way they were supposed to.
“So, they did what adults are supposed to do. They had a call.
I don’t think it was in person, they had a call or a Zoom or whatever, and they sorted it out. And I think they smooth it out with, I think Werenski probably smoothed it out with Dallas too, but you know, they sort it out.
And I expect that he’ll start next year in Columbus.”
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