Massive news out of Calgary yesterday as the Flames made a trade with the Vancouver Canucks, sending pending unrestricted free agent Elias Lindholm—their longtime number-one centre—away for a massive package.
The Flames have been in a bit of a holding pattern leading up to this season. They entered the season with seven pending unrestricted free agents, but clearly believed in the roster and its capability to make the playoffs.
However, the biggest thing hanging over this team has been how exactly general manager Craig Conroy was going to deal with the free agents, and what direction the Flames will be going in after this year.
Craig Conroy has made a clear decision as to which camp he belongs in. He’s going down the route the Nashville Predators did last year—being prudent with asset management and trading when he feels he should, while still loading up on assets that help steer the team forward this year and beyond. It’s not a rebuild, but it’s definitely a retool.
Conroy’s moves as GM
Conroy took over as GM this summer, and has made exactly four noteworthy moves so far:
- Trading Tyler Toffoli to the New Jersey Devils for Yegor Sharangovich and a third-round pick (Aydar Suniev)
- Extending Mikael Backlund for two years and making him the captain of the Flames
- Trading Nikita Zadorov to the Canucks for third- and fifth-round picks
- Trading Elias Lindholm to the Canucks for Andrei Kuzmenko, prospects Hunter Brzustewicz and Joni Jurmo, a first-round pick, and a conditional fourth-round pick
Summing up all these transactions, the Flames traded away three pending unrestricted free agents averaging 30 years old for two objectively talented players averaging 26 years old that they hoped could thrive in a new situation, as well as five draft picks and two prospects.
On top of that, the two players they acquired in Sharangovich and Kuzmenko both have contracts expiring in 2025, a very desirable contract situation the Flames can use to evaluate their new contributors and make decisions from there.
The direction is clear. The Flames are getting younger, creating more salary cap flexibility for both the short- and long-term, focusing more on offence, and still remaining as competitive as they can in the meantime.
What will happen with Calgary’s remaining pending UFAs?
It looks like the Flames will still try and make the playoffs with them bringing in two legit NHL scorers in Sharangovich and Kuzmenko with chips on their shoulders, but aren’t going to let assets walk away for free.
They started the season with seven notable pending UFAs, and are now left with just three: Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev, and Oliver Kylington. Kylington will be sticking around, so really there are two big pieces left.
Recent reports indicate that the Flames are asking for a first-round pick for Tanev, which makes sense considering there are apparently 10+ teams interested in acquiring Tanev ahead of the trade deadline. We should expect Tanev to be traded.
Hanifin has been a more difficult situation to sort out, with the Flames going on extended losing streaks immediately after rumours surfaced they were thinking of re-signing Hanifin on two separate occasions. With the Lindholm trade, this situation hopefully becomes a lot clearer for Hanifin, one way or another. Nothing is guaranteed, but something will be decided before the deadline whether it’s a trade or an extension.
The time is right for Calgary
So, what’s coming next? More trades. More younger players and futures coming back. More hope for the future. For a team currently sitting ninth last in the NHL, it’s the right call.
The Flames can definitely still claw their way up the standings, but Conroy is hedging his bets and it’s a smart decision.
One thing I was extremely worried about at the start of the season was timing. It would have been next to impossible for Conroy to successfully execute seven trades for seven pending UFAs at the trade deadline. There simply isn’t enough time to properly negotiate and there was a massive risk that the Flames would walk away from the trade deadline with their pockets full of pennies and magic beans if they waited until then to make trades.
A huge win with what’s happened so far is that Conroy has gotten a lot of business done over a month before the deadline, leaving plenty of time to maximize the return on two of the most valuable players, Hanifin and Tanev.
Teams around the league know that Conroy is open for business, is amicable in negotiations, and will shake hands if the deal is right. His clout leaguewide has never been higher, and it’s coming at the best possible time.
Lots more to come for the Flames
The Flames will be a busy team ahead of the deadline this year. The Lindholm trade is just the latest chapter in a long story yet to be told.
