[Caged Great]

The main reason why I have thrown out ideas of trading him is because he is skilled. The Flames are very flush with centers organizationally. Dealing him for another area of need would maximize the asset and he would be replaced internally. I'm sure that one of Jankowski, Arnold, or Granlund could grow into being an equivalent replacement.

In order to get something of quality you have to give up something of quality with very few exceptions. Center depth is the greatest strength organizationally. If some of that can be cashed in to address a weakness would be a good thing. If Calgary could acquire an equivalent RW talent as Backlund (say another Frolik because that's about as close as I can think of off the top of my head) then that would be perfectly acceptable. If he's one of the pieces in a trade for a big prospect like Drouin, that would also be perfectly fine.

If the Flames decide to keep him long term, that's also a good thing. He's one of the few pieces that is potentially tradeable that has value. That's the only reason why I think he's being mentioned in trade scenarios.