The Calgary Flames won the Milan Lucic trade in 2019, which isn’t saying a lot.
After a few seasons of Lucic terrorizing players while in a Flames uniform, it is time for the Flames to trade the big man in order to recoup assets at the Trade Deadline. He may not be the most valuable trade target, but he’s one the Flames should try to recapture as whatever value they can.
The thing is now, there is a perfect trade partner we are quite certain that Lucic would accept a trade to: the Boston Bruins. It’s key to note that on Lucic’s contract, from July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023 he submits a list of eight teams that he can be traded to. We are going to assume that Boston is on that list for obvious reasons.
Eyes were raised yesterday when the following comment was left on a FlamesNation instagram post:
Reading between the lines here, but safe to say this would be a family supported move. The Flames are on the outside looking in of a playoff spot, while the Bruins are getting ready for a long playoff run.
The Bruins have been making massive moves recently, with the acquisitions of Dmitri Orlov, Garnet Hathaway, and now Tyler Bertuzzi. Adding in the re-signing of David Pastrnak, and the Bruins have just been extremely busy.
I bet they aren’t done, mainly due to the placing of Taylor Hall on LTIR this morning. As a result, thanks to our friends at CapFriendly, they have more space to work with:
With $2.9M in LTIR cap space after the move, the Bruins now have the right amount to acquire Lucic’s contract if the Flames retain 50% of the contract. It makes perfect sense.
Why would the Flames do this? Well if the team retains 50% of his remaining $5.25M cap hit, it means very little to them since they most likely won’t be making any major acquisitions before the trade deadline (knock on wood). They also would then gain at least $2.625M in cap space to potentially weaponize or facilitate a retained salary transaction to gain draft capital. Creating flexibility, while still retaining money. Additionally, Lucic’s real dollar value this season is $1M in salary, which makes the actual money for the Bruins to be very little the rest of the season.
Additionally, by retaining the 50% they could have Boston provide them with a late round draft pick as a result. Lucic’s value is little, but the savings in salary cap space is what they could value more. Reuniting Lucic in Boston before a Stanley Cup run, for a very small acquisition price, could prove to be valuable for Boston, while also letting the Flames recoup a smaller asset.
It just makes perfect sense, make it happen Brad.
