When looking at teams NHL teams who would be the biggest sellers come the trade deadline, the Calgary Flames were at the top of that list. Not by choice, but purely as a result of many of their players being on expiring contracts and becoming unrestricted free agents on July 1. The kicker is that none of them were guaranteed to re-sign with the team at any point from the offseason until now.
The Flames have already executed four deals with those players dating back to last June, putting a high priority on asset management instead of seeing players walk for nothing. With one more to go, the team may have shifted to being a buyer instead of the fire sale.
I am not kidding.
The Calgary Flames are window shopping for defence
On The Jeff Marek Show and the most recent episode of 32 Thoughts the Podcast, Elliotte Friedman reported that the Flames may be doing a lot of selling but may also be looking to acquire some defensive depth.
Since losing Nikita Zadorov, Chris Tanev, and most likely Noah Hanifin, the team wants to ensure that if the Flames are still pushing for a playoff spot, they have at least one veteran defenceman filling in the gaps.
As it stands right now, the Flames may need to rely heavily on depth defencemen like Brayden Pachal, Dennis Gilbert, and Jordan Oesterle so it makes sense they look for a low-cost add to their backend for not just this season but potentially next year as well.
Now does it make sense for the Flames to spend assets to acquire players this season? Of course not. Will they do it anyway? Probably.
The Flames are somehow convinced that they have a chance at a playoff spot, despite being seven points back at the time of this writing, The team would rather pick yet again in the middle of the pack, rather than just fall back a bit over the next few months to get a better draft pick. We will let Murray Edwards be Murray Edwards.
Some names in terms of defencemen include Tyson Barrie and Erik Johnson—both were names floated around after the report came to light, but those are just rumours rather than direct links. They may pull a Brad Treliving special and trade a third-round pick for Cody Ceci. The possibilities are endless.
All joking aside, I do wonder if the big-brain move here is primarily to protect Jacob Markstrom. Losing some of your best defencemen may expose him more during games, and as a result, hurt his trade value. If the team does intend on keeping Markstrom through this season, you can bet Craig Conroy wants him to look as good as possible to potential suitors for the next time they visit the topic of trading him.
