The Calgary Flames very much seem like they are open for business with the trade deadline just under a month away, and with the Flames dealing away Elias Lindholm last week, it seems as though one of Chris Tanev or Noah Hanifin will be out the door next.
Hanifin has been the talk of the town as of late as it was reported that a decision will be coming soon in regards to his future as a Flame. The Flames are actively trying to re-sign Hanifin, but if he rejects another contract offer (and it looks like it is trending in that direction), Craig Conroy and co. will be forced to trade the defensemen who will be an unrestricted free agent at the season’s end.
Hanifin will undoubtedly help a team on the backend, so I wanted to take a look at a few teams that would make the most sense for the Flames to strike a deal with. Those teams are the Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, and Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Dallas Stars as a Hanifin trade partner
The Dallas Stars are one of the true Stanley Cup contenders in the NHL. They have it all, a deep and dangerous forward group, a sturdy defence headlined by one of the league’s best rearguards in Miro Heiskanen, and an all-world goaltender in Jake Oettinger. The one position I think they need to bolster would be their defensive depth.
Like I mentioned above, Heiskanen is all-world and can carry a backend to a championship, youngster Thomas Harley is enjoying a breakout season, and Esa Lindell is still a strong defensive presence, but after that, the group becomes thin. Ryan Suter isn’t the player he once was, and while Jani Hakanpaa and Joel Hanley have done an admirable job, you don’t really want them to be in your top-four if you are trying to win a championship.
Hanifin would slot in nicely on the team’s second pair; they can use another smooth skating puck mover on the backend, and Hanifin checks all those boxes. He makes a ton of sense for the Stars in that regard.
Now, for the return, I think Hanifin can get a pretty strong return and Dallas has an abundance of goodies to choose from. The Stars have their own first and second picks this year and they have a strong prospect pool. Logan Stankoven would be a dream but I don’t know how interested the Stars would be in dealing him away. Mavrik Bourque is another possibility as he is lighting up the AHL like the aforementioned Stankoven. I can see a package of one of Bourque or Stankoven along with a high pick. The salary cap would have to get figured out as the Stars have just under $2M of deadline cap space, but I wonder about the base of the trade starting with one of those two prospects.
The Florida Panthers as a Hanifin trade partner
The Flames and Panthers are not strangers when it comes to striking a big deal. It wasn’t that long ago where the two teams shattered the hockey universe when they swapped 100-point wingers for one another. So, a deal for these two teams would not be out of the ordinary.
The Panthers are coming off their big Stanley Cup final appearance a season ago when they fell to the Vegas Golden Knights, and they look even stronger this season. They are another case of a true contender and they certainly now have the experience they maybe lacked a year ago. Like the Stars, the Panthers’ biggest hole just may be on the backend. Like the Stars, the Panthers have some admirable defenders like Niko Mikkola, but once again, you may not want that player in your top-four come playoff time. Brandon Montour, Gustav Forsling and Sam Reinhart are all unrestricted free agents at the end of the year, so the time to go for it is now.
Hanifin would fit like a glove. He fits everything that the Panthers are going for. They play fast and love to have their defensemen join the offence as much as possible. Hanifin would fit right in with Paul Maurice and his system. All of this is not to mention that Hanifin would already have some familiar faces on the team like Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett who he spent lots of time with in Calgary. That may be some incentive for Hanifin to stick around long term and not just come in as a rental, too.
In terms of a return, the Panthers don’t have a great prospect pool and they don’t own their own first round pick until 2026, and that pick even has a condition on it. One player in particular that may be intriguing to Calgary though is Anton Lundell. Conroy talked about finding a centre that is under the age of 24 with good upside: Lundell checks all those boxes. I don’t know if the Panthers would even entertain an offer on Lundell, but if they did, I think the Flames would be able to bring him in along with a draft pick or two. Especially if Hanifin decides before hand that he would sign long term in Florida.
The Tampa Bay Lightning as a Hanifin trade partner
The Tampa Bay Lightning are an interesting one, if we were talking about this a week ago I would not even have thought of them as a fit for Hanifin. Things change quickly though: Mikhail Sergachev went down with an ugly looking injury a few nights ago and it seems like he will miss a significant amount of time. They now need a defensemen to play on the left side.
The Lightning are still chasing down another Cup run after winning in back to back years in 2020 and 2021. They are getting an MVP level season from Nikita Kucherov (again) and their captain Steven Stamkos is in the last year of his contract, with no contract for him in sight, this very well could be the last run for this core group in Tampa Bay.
Hanifin would be a pretty easy fit in Tampa Bay as he would most likely slot in on the second pair with Erik Cernak and he would probably fit in very nicely with the run and gun Lightning squad.
There are two major issues when it comes to making a trade with the Lightning however, those being lack of quality assets and cap space. The Lightning now have some LTIR space with Sergachev going down, but if he can return to Lightning’s lineup before the playoffs, they will need all that space to fit him in. The Lightning also don’t own their own first round pick until 2026 thanks to the Brandon Hagel and Tanner Jeannot trades they made. The only real good prospect I think the Lightning have is Issac Howard, and I don’t even really know if he is a slam dunk NHLer of the future.
Still, a 2026 first round pick, second rounders in 2025 and 2026, and Isaac Howard could form a starting point for a potential deal. It would be tough to strike a deal with the Bolts, but I can safely assume that GM Julien BriseBois will at least check in, he seems to always be in on everything.
A decision on Hanifin’s future is coming soon
We won’t have to wait too much longer on a decision coming from Hanifin as it feels like we are coming down to the wire with the trade deadline fast approaching. There will be trade partners for the Flames if they decide that moving Hanifin is best for their future.
Whether it is one of these teams listed or another, I think the Flames can pull another rabbit out of their hat to get a nice return on Hanifin. Only time will tell, and we will all just have to stay tuned for what comes next.
