Transaction market: two Canadian teams to watch

These are the Calgary Flames and the Vancouver Canucks.

Let’s start with the British Columbia team, who are off to a decent start to the season with a 4-4 record and eight points, just one point out of the final playoff spot.

Yesterday, the Canucks acquired forward Lukas Reichel from the Chicago Blackhawks in return for a fourth-round pick, but it seems their shopping isn’t done and they’re looking for more reinforcements.

It’s understandable that, in Vancouver, after a difficult season in which the team missed spring ball, they want to give themselves every chance of returning to the playoffs this season.

In the case of the Alberta club, with a 1-7-1 record and just three points from nine games, it’s much more difficult. We could quickly throw in the towel and quickly become a seller.

If the Flames, who haven’t made the playoffs since 2022, keep losing, they might be tempted to clean house and start a real rebuild rather than continue to tread water.

If that’s the case, it makes a lot of sense to go all-in quickly for McKenna.

Among the players in Calgary who could interest other teams is Nazem Kadri, whose no-movement clause this year has become a list of thirteen teams where he can’t be traded.

The 35-year-old forward could be an interesting option for a club looking for a second center for the Habs.

Still, Kadri scored 72 points, including 35 goals, in 82 games last year and hasn’t missed a game in the last three seasons.

The main problem with the center is that there are still four years left on his seven-year contract, worth an average of $7 million a year.

If Kadri is still worth that much right now, I don’t think he will be in two or three years’ time, and it’s a contract that could age very badly.

And when you consider the excellent job management does in giving good contracts to the club’s players, I’d still be surprised to see the Habs agree to be stuck with this kind of contract.

Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him go back to Toronto.

Overtime

– Interception!

– Tonight’s lineup.

– Many Jays fans with the Sabres.

– A quick double.

– His first with the Flyers.