The Calgary Flames made headlines last night, trading defenseman Nikita Zadorov to the Vancouver Canucks for a third-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft and a fifth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. The trade has drawn mixed reviews from the hockey world, though it appears that the majority of Flames fans are disappointed with the return.
I believe the Zadorov trade was a big win for the Flames, and here are the three biggest reasons why.
No retained salary on Zadorov’s contract
One of the key aspects of this trade is the absence of retained salary on the Flames’ side. Zadorov’s $3.75M cap hit is high enough to only be fully digestible by six teams. A few others have the required available cap space but are in LTIR which complicates the matter. For the Canucks to take on the full hit without any salary considerations is something that cannot be overlooked.
Conservatively, the Flames have three more trades they almost certainly will make before now and the trade deadline. It could be as high as five more when all is said and done, though, and the Flames are currently retaining salary on zero players. If they’re looking to potentially trade Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin, Elias Lindholm, Dan Vladar, and Dillon Dube, it is absolutely essential for them to not retain salary on the worst of the six, Zadorov.
Teams are only allowed to retain salary on three players at any given time. Using one of those precious slots on the worst of the six players severely limits Craig Conroy‘s ability to maximize the return on higher-value assets down the road. Getting Vancouver to take the whole cap hit is a big win.
Removing locker room distractions
Only the players in the room can tell us exactly what it’s like being a member of the Calgary Flames, but at the end of the day, we know that Zadorov was not jiving with the team. He requested a trade, publicly at that, and has called out his teammates for “selfish” play on numerous occasions this season. While Zadorov had become somewhat of a fan favourite for his outgoing and unapologetic personality, it’s clear that the fit was starting to wear.
Conroy has said from day one that he only wants players who want to be in Calgary. Zadorov didn’t fit that bill, and removing him from the roster as soon as possible was a good decision. The team responded with a solid victory against a very good Dallas Stars team and has shown now that they can win without Zadorov. That is going to be huge going forward.
Getting rid of a player who doesn’t want to be there also opens up a roster spot for someone who does. Conroy said that the team will be calling up a “promising young player to take Zadorov’s place”, and this player is almost certainly Ilya Solovyov. He was one of the very last cuts in training camp, showed well in his two NHL games earlier in the season, and looks to be more than ready for a full-time NHL audition.
If there is anything we’ve learned from the callups of Connor Zary and Martin Pospisil, it’s that injecting youth into the team is the correct decision.
The timing works out for a couple of reasons
One item that hasn’t been discussed nearly enough is the timing of this trade. Conroy has potentially five more deals to make in the next 98 days before the March 8 trade deadline. The Zadorov trade took about four weeks to complete. It is going to be a near-impossible task for Conroy to trade that many players, get good returns for all of them, and do it all in 14 weeks.
Getting this trade done now is a weight off his shoulders, signals to the other teams around the league that the Flames are open for business if the right deal comes along, and should help the Flames get better returns than they would have if they waited until March to trade the remaining chips.
This trade also comes at a time when the Flames are rolling, so moving out a roster piece shouldn’t affect the team as much as it would if the team was on a losing skid.
Having Zadorov play his first games in a Canucks sweater in the Saddledome against the Flames adds an awesome, fun element to the trade, too, and the Flames are going to be in the spotlight for much longer because of it.
Timing is everything, and Conroy nailed it.
What does this trade foreshadow for future deals?
We learned a lot about Conroy’s attitude towards trades from the Zadorov deal. He traded Zadorov in-division, and said that he doesn’t really care which team he trades players to because his only goal is to better the Calgary Flames; he’ll take the best deal available. This is the correct view.
Never forget when the Ottawa Senators refused to trade Mike Hoffman to the Florida Panthers because they were in the same division, so they chose to send him to the San Jose Sharks for a worse return. Then, the Sharks immediately flipped him to Florida anyway. Conroy did the right thing.
We also learned that Conroy is true to his word on bringing up the kids. When Solovyov gets called up, the Flames will have much-needed youth on their blueline.
It’s clear that Conroy is focused on the future of the Flames. Coming from Brad Treliving who only cared about the here and now, this is a refreshing outlook.
