If Gillies has to be protected then the Flames are no longer in the driver seat for acquiring a goaltender, or at least they're not in as much of a driver seat as they would risk losing Gillies to protect the player they acquired.
Now this can go two ways.
1. Get a goalie they love, protect him, and then risk losing Gillies
2. Acquire a goalie for cheap, expose him and risk losing him a year later
If the acquisition cost is cheap option 2 might be doable. Especially since they have a year to watch Gillies develop and make a call. Doubtful he's ready after one, but he's certainly more ready than he is now.
This doesn't work in the MAF case though as he could refuse to waive his NMC forcing the Flames to expose Gillies again.
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