The Calgary Flames are open for business. As witnessed with the Nikita Zadorov trade to the Vancouver Canucks, cap space still reigns supreme in the NHL. While Flames general manager Craig Conroy has a serious job on his hands trying to move out some disgruntled pending unrestricted free agents, if Conroy doesn’t keep moving the Flames forward, disaster will strike.
Seeing the return Calgary received from the Canucks for Zadorov, be it two mid-level draft picks, was very underwhelming. Imagine being in the Flames dressing room and you just lost one of the better defenseman and nobody is walking in as an NHL-caliber replacement?
If Conroy doesn’t manage to keep the Flames afloat and receive some NHL ready and capable talent in return for the likes of Elias Lindholm, Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin in what’s expected to be upcoming trades, Conroy is going to have a much bigger problem on his hands.
Could Contract Players Be Traded By Conroy and the Flames?
There’s been some rumblings that Nazem Kadri and Jonathan Huberdeau are on high alert. When it comes to expected trades, both forwards may not like what they see as far as the direction of Conroy’s intentions. They could ask to be moved. Both Kadri and Huberdeau signed for at least the next five seasons.
Calgary is currently 10-10-3 on the season and after a rough start are playing decent hockey with a 6-3-1 record in their last 10 games. They certainly haven’t played themselves out of a Stanley Cup Playoff spot just yet. They very well could be in the running for a wild card position once the season concludes. That’s if Conroy does his job.
Moving out Lindholm, Tanev and Hanifin should fetch the Flames a serious haul. A ton of future considerations? Let’s hope not for Flames’ fans sake as anything less than NHL talent will crank up the heat to an already steamy situation in Calgary.
Hockey insider Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff recently named Lindholm as the top trade target available this season and had this to say about what could transpire in Calgary:
How often do No. 1 centers become available in the NHL? The answer is not very often, which is one reason why the Flames pushed to get Lindholm signed to a long-term extension before the season started. He’s a difficult guy to replace. At the same time, since Lindholm has been noncommittal, he represents an extraordinary opportunity for the Flames to harvest significant assets which they can then use as trade chips to reconfigure their roster
The Flames are a very fragile team. After getting rid of Darryl Sutter and finding a solution the players welcomed with open arms, if Conroy doesn’t hit home runs on his next three trades, things are going to flip upside down in a hurry in Calgary.
Next: Legitimate Goalie Option Comes Off the Board for the Oilers
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