The Flames’ Most Interesting Trade Asset Isn’t a Player

There was something interesting about the Calgary Flames showing up in the Kirill Marchenko trade talks without actually wanting Kirill Marchenko. That sounds a little strange at first. But maybe it tells us something important about the way Craig Conroy is thinking about this rebuild.

According to Eric Francis, the Flames were involved as a potential third party in the deal, hoping to take on salary and receive a draft pick in return for providing some salary-cap relief. Calgary didn’t end up being needed, but the idea itself is worth noticing.

Conroy wasn’t trying to win the trade. He was trying to find a way to make the trade useful to Calgary.

Sometimes the Best Player to Acquire Is a Draft Pick

The Flames currently have about $13.9 million in cap space, with PuckPedia projecting roughly $65.8 million in deadline cap space. That’s an enormous amount of financial flexibility for a team that isn’t trying to win the Stanley Cup this season.

And this is where Conroy seems to be thinking a little differently. There is always a temptation during a rebuild to believe that every trade has to produce a player. You move somebody out, you bring somebody in and you try to convince yourself you’ve taken another step forward.

But what if the asset is the cap space itself? If another team needs to clear $4 million or $5 million to make a bigger deal work, Calgary doesn’t necessarily need to want the player attached to that contract. Conroy can simply ask: What will you give the Flames for taking it?

That is a different way of building a team. And it fits what we’ve seen from Conroy. The Flames have already been willing to retain salary and take on contracts in trades, and now they have more room than ever to do it.