The trade deadline is tomorrow and a year ago, the Calgary Flames were quite busy. They facilitated one of the largest sell-offs in franchise history, trading pending UFAs as they kicked off their official retool.
Among those players was Noah Hanifin. The Flames tried to extend Hanifin till the last minute, but no extension agreement was reached. The team was forced to trade him, flipping him to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for Daniil Miromanov, a conditional 2025 first-round pick and a conditional 2025 third-round pick. Let’s see how this trade aged for both teams a year later:
For the Vegas Golden Knights
It seems like the Golden Knights always devise a way to make a big move during this time of year. Hanifin’s addition fit into this mold, as Vegas was yet again an aggressive buyer. An extension with Calgary was not happening, as Hanifin strongly preferred to return to the United States where he was originally from.
Hanifin would end up signing an eight-year, $58.8 million contract extension with the club, as Vegas was one of the few rumored destinations he’d be willing to extend with. Hanifin had 12 points in 19 games when he arrived in Vegas, but the team would get eliminated in the first round by the Dallas Stars during last year’s postseason.
Ever since the trade, Hanifin has been a solid addition to the Golden Knight’s blueline. This season, he has eight goals and 30 points in 61 games, fulfilling his role of being a top-four defender who can chip in offence. The Golden Knights got a player who can be a part of the team’s core for some time, and they didn’t have to give up a lot to get him, which will be discussed in the next section.
For the Calgary Flames
As for the return the Flames got in this deal, it was massively disappointing. Out of all the trades rookie GM Craig Conroy made, this was his weakest so far.
However certain factors heavily influenced the return. Hanifin’s status as a pending UFA gave him a lot of leverage and he was pretty much able to dictate where he wanted to go. His camp let other teams know that he wouldn’t be signing an extension with them even if a trade was made, so it severely affected what the Flames were going to get. Hanifin would only sign an extension with teams he was willing to extend long term with and Vegas came up with the best offer.
The conditional first the Flames received was converted to an unprotected 2026 first-round pick as Vegas used their first in 2025 to acquire Tomas Hertl. The conditional third would end up staying as is as Vegas didn’t win a playoff series for that pick to convert to a second. Finally, Miromanov was a fringe NHLer who only appeared in 29 career games before coming to Calgary, and he was 27 years old.
The most valuable asset the Flames received was the unprotected first, which could turn into something but only time will tell. The most prominent piece was Miromanov who looked quite good finishing off the season in Calgary, scoring three goals and seven points in 20 games.
The organization was quite high on him since he was a right-shot defenceman who needed a chance to prove himself, but this season Miromanov has not been nearly as effective. He’s only appeared in 37 games, scoring seven points and serving as a healthy scratch many nights.
While Miromanov’s play hasn’t been abysmal, he clearly hasn’t shown enough to prove that he deserves a regular spot in the lineup. In fact, the Flames could be looking to move on from him at this year’s deadline, as it was rumored that the team is trying to find a new home for him.
The Flames waited till the last minute and suffered
While it’s not entirely the Flames’ fault for Hanifin’s camp being so hard, this problem could’ve been resolved much sooner.
The Flames should’ve gave Hanifin a much tighter deadline to make a decision regarding his future in Calgary. Due to him deciding so close to the deadline, he got the leverage he needed to dictate his destination despite not having any power in his contract to do so.
It’s why there are fears that this type of situation may happen again with other pending UFAs, especially with a player like Rasmus Andersson, who has immense value. Looking at how this trade aged, the Flames got the short end of the stick for a player that could’ve gotten back a lot more if his timeline for a decision was stricter.
