[Stealth22]

BT on the trade...

- Looking at this (Shinkaruk?) for a while
- Thanked Granlund for his service
- Moved lots of young players to our team quickly...need to continue to build our pipeline of prospects (not a great deal of depth in skill positions)
- Scoring goals at the NHL level is difficult...Hunter has done nothing but score; doesn't translate to NHL level automatically, but its an area of need for the Flames
- Number of players at the centre position for the Flames; Drew Shore and Bill Arnold in the minors
- Markus' contract is up, plus waiver eligible at the end of the season; risk exposing him to waivers later on
- Wants to caution fans that Shinkaruk is NOT at the NHL-ready stage yet, still work to be done; but down the road, he can fill a need for us, which is score goals
- Hunter is a competitive player; Flames like that about him and want him to continually improve
- At the junior level, you can beat other teams with raw skill; but need to fine-tune that for the NHL level because you're playing against "redwoods" on the blue line
- Things that stood out with Hunter for the Flames: Competitiveness, quickness, willingness to score goals
- Has potential to be a top six forward; still has a ways to go, but the Flames want to work with him and bring him to that level
- Don't normally see teams deal with div. rivals, and this is our 2nd deal with VAN in recent times
- First had conversations with VAN about this a few months ago
- Evaluated players, determined areas of need; once you make your wish list, many of those players aren't available
- Giving up a good player in Markus Granlund; need to make sure that its the best move for the organization moving forward
- Talked about it internally in the last few weeks, came together in the last few days
- Tried Granlund on the wing in the minors; he is able to play the wing, but wasn't all that comfortable. One of Markus' greatest strength is his hockey IQ. Good to have those players at any position is good, but best to have it at center. And Markus just didn't seem comfortable at wing
- Flames didn't project Markus to be in the top six long-term; not a bad thing, as you need players in all positions. But with the waiver situation and the rest of the roster, this was the correct move to make