It has been a very busy last few weeks for Calgary Flames General Manager Craig Conroy, as he continues to hammer out moves prior to the NHL’s trade deadline next Friday.
We have seen Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm, and Chris Tanev all get dealt in-season, and there is no question that Noah Hanifin will be the next player to go. One name that became a major story of the last few weeks, however, has been Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom.
Rumours began to swirl on the veteran netminder’s future in Calgary amid his season worthy of Vezina Trophy discussions. With teams in need of stability at the goaltending position, Markstrom’s name became a focal point of discussion.
Well, as of today, it looks like those talks have been put to rest, and the Flames will likely keep Markstrom around for one final push for a playoff spot.
A deal that fell apart
We all now know about the deal that could have happened between the Calgary Flames and the New Jersey Devils just a few weeks ago. It seemed like there was a deal in place that would have made Markstrom a Devil; it came so close that there were reports that Markstrom himself thought he wouldn’t be leaving New Jersey after the Flames had defeated the Devils.
The deal fell apart, and it seemed like all talks had dried up between both teams. However, according to David Pagnotta, the Devils circled back to the Flames regarding Markstrom. That is when the news broke that the Flames had made the decision to keep Markstrom around.
What does this mean for the Flames?
You can look at this news in one of two ways. You can either be upset that the Flames are not cashing in on the year that Markstrom is having to bring in significant future assets, or you can be happy that he is sticking around to give the Flames one last push at a wild card spot.
I think the Flames needed to take advantage of the year Markstrom is having to move him for futures. At this time last year, you couldn’t give Markstrom away for free with how bad his play was. This year, you have someone who was willing to give you major assets for his services. I understand, though, that goaltending is an incredibly tough position to stabilize; just look at the Flames themselves, as Markstrom is the first true number one they have had since Miikka Kiprusoff retired over ten years ago.
In saying that, though, his value may never be higher again; who is to say that Markstrom doesn’t return to what he was a year ago? You will never be able to trade him at that point, especially since he will be 35 next year.
Maybe this is just a ploy by Conroy and the rest of the management team to get the Devils to up their offer at the last minute before the deadline, or maybe management is being truthful when they say that Markstrom will not be going anywhere for at least the rest of the season.
At the end of the day, you just have to hope that Markstrom can play this well for the remainder of the year so they can try to flip him in the summer. After all, the Flames need to finish in the bottom 10 of the league standings next season to ensure they don’t lose their first-round pick to the Montreal Canadiens (thanks Brad Treliving for that one).
Time to run the table
If the Flames do deal Hanifin in the next few days, you can hope for the Flames to continue this run of play they have been on. Maybe—even after dealing Tanev, Lindholm, Hanifin, Zadorov, and Tyler Toffoli—just maybe they can still make a run at getting that second wild card spot. If anyone is going to lead them there, it is going to be Markstrom.
The Flames will have to run the table to make it happen. It’s a long shot, but clearly we have never had any idea of what this team is or isn’t capable of. At the very least, the last stretch of this season should be interesting.
