It was a busy extended weekend in the world of the Calgary Flames, between a visit from the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Battle of Alberta, the NHL debut of Adam Klapka and the return to the NHL of Matt Coronato. As things calm down ever-so-slightly, we thought we’d circle back to a discussion between Daily Faceoff insider Frank Seravalli and our pal Jason Gregor from last week’s edition of the DFO Rundown.
They had an extended discussion of the Flames’ situation leading into the trade deadline, which began with Seravalli responding to a question from Gregor about the Flames being open for business by replying “I think they are. I know they are.”
Here’s Seravalli:
Look, the Flames already made one trade in 2023. They’re ready to go. They would’ve moved out more pieces by now, especially while they were sub-.500. They haven’t had the right offers. Teams haven’t been ready to go make those trades yet, for cap reasons, for asset reasons, or they want to see how their team shakes out before they really spend and commit. So they’ve been in a holding pattern, they’ve been held hostage here, I think, by the other teams that have expressed interest and been in the mix.
The one exception to that is Hanifin, that’s the one guy that they are still talking to, still trying to work something out. And the reason for that is, one, and I’ve said this since the beginning of the year, if you trade all of your pending UFAs and it’s only for futures, you don’t really have a chance to compete in two to three years. You have to keep someone, and Hanifin is the guy that makes a lot of sense because then you can go Weegar, Hanifin and Andersson into next year, and that’s at least half of a solid D core to get you started before you then go about filling the rest of it out.
The trade referenced by Seravalli was sending Nikita Zadorov to Vancouver for a 2026 third-round pick and a 2024 fifth-round pick. And that swap was the second move Flames general manager Craig Conroy has made involving a pending unrestricted free agent, as he traded Tyler Toffoli to New Jersey the day before the NHL Draft in exchange for Yegor Sharangovich and a 2023 third-round pick used to select Aydar Suniev.
Later on during their discussion, Gregor and Seravalli chatted about potential price tags for the Flames’ big non-Hanifin trade chips. Seravalli ballparked a second-round pick for Chris Tanev. He also referenced a more extensive breakdown he posted on Daily Faceoff regarding trade comparables for Elias Lindholm: Ryan O’Reilly netted St. Louis essentially first and second-round picks (for the player and the salary retention), while Bo Horvat netted Vancouver a first-round pick, Anthony Beauvillier and Aatu Raty.
“Somewhere in between those goal posts is where Craig Conroy should be lining up for that field goal.”
Check out the latest episode of the DFO Rundown wherever you find your podcasts for an in-depth discussion of many of the trade deadline situations throughout the NHL.
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