With Carolina
dangling pick #5 for a top four defenseman, and the Flames nowhere near the playoffs for the forseeable future, is there a deal to be made here?
The idea would be that you make a trade around Giordano and the #5 pick, then you get to pick two out three from Lindholm, Monahan and Nichuchkin. We could take someone like Tuomo Ruutu back to help the Canes with salary and keep us out of cap floor trouble.
We'd be giving up our expected next captain, but if we're not going to contend in the next three years anyways, does that matter? What would need to be added to the deal (on either side) to make it work, if it could work at all?
Of course, this all assumes that the Flames are willing to go all-in on a rebuild. If the plan is to buy some UFAs and try to get 8th place, then they'd want to keep Gio around for that.