[Calgary4LIfe]

I think the Flames are too high on Ferland to include him in any trade that at least in part makes him the sweetener. Bouma and Stajan have a year left on their deals. I can't envision any scenario where the Flames trade Ferland for anything short of an over-payment. Ferland would be the sweetener in a multi-asset deal to consummate a trade involving the Flames obtaining a much better player.

Call me crazy, but I think Stajan is very movable right now (and I pick him to be the guy that Vegas is targeting in expansion from the Flames) as his cap hit is not ugly (3.5 million), he has only one year left on his deal (centers command a lot back at the deadline like defencemen do) and that his actual salary is only 2.5 million (saving a budget team 1 million annually - nothing to sneeze at).

Bouma is probably not a very desirable asset, but again he only has one year left. Occasionally a team will look to trade for a 'heart and soul' guy who plays PK and has a lot of grit (playoff Bouma is an asset, even if he is a minimal one).

Brouwer is really the team's only poor contract, but even then it isn't completely ugly. I personally wasn't impressed by his performance this past season - though he wasn't all bad, I do think he was mostly bad and was fittingly demoted to the 4th line. However, I do think that there is a chance that he rebounds a bit, and a reasonable 'excuse' was that he wasn't feeling 100% due to his injury. I would rather have the Flames get rid of him somehow, but his contract really isn't THAT ugly. Every team has at least one poor contract (usually more) and as long as Brouwer remains the only poor contract, I can live with it. I can't live with getting rid of Ferland to erase it.

Edit: The Spector article still doesn't make sense anyways. If Vegas wanted Ferland, they wouldn't get him through the expansion draft. Why not select Stajan through the expansion draft on the condition that Calgary would then trade Ferland for whatever goalie they desired? The optics for Vegas in selecting Ferland is great, but then it would look like a 'terrible move' to then trade for Stajan (or whomever) for an asset like one of the goalies. It is a poorly thought-out scenario in my opinion. Either way, fat chance of that happening.