Seravalli: ‘Noah Hanifin completely and totally hijacked that trade process’

Here’s Frank:

I know people have been speed-bagging Craig Conroy and the Calgary Flames on social media for the return, they had zero leverage. Noah Hanifin completely and totally hijacked that trade process. Basically any team that had called… and I’m told the Flames had two to three different trades that were nearing the finish line that were scuttled by Hanifin’s camp because invariably the team makes a call to the agent and says ‘Hey we’re thinking about trading for this guy, what are the chances we could get him to sign a contract extension?’ And the answer was always, ‘No, no, he’s not re-signing with you.’

So then you add in the other teams that were in the mix, like Florida, like Tampa, Vegas, obviously on the Hanifin ‘yes list.’ He didn’t have the full no-trade clause but he leveraged it and the process like he did, leaving the Flames to the point where me personally, watching all of this unfold – and if you’ve been listening to me I’ve been telling you for three weeks that they’re not going to get a huge return – getting basically a first and probably a second if Vegas wins a round, which I think we all consider probably pretty likely with the moves that they’re still to make, is a first, a second and an NHL defenceman for no having leverage, is that god-awful?

Hanifin is expected to debut for the Golden Knights on Thursday night, while Miromanov is expected to join the Flames in time for Saturday’s game against Florida.

The 2024 trade deadline is Friday at 1 p.m. MT.