I actually think this is a pretty decent deal for the Flames. Needed a player shakeup in a big way. Hanifin is a stud and as a D will continue to get better as he is still so young. Ferland was OK but I think stats inflated by Johnny and ever since he signed last year he sounded like he wanted to get to UFA to get a big pay day. Lindholm I think will surprise most and if he plays with some high quality linemates will produce more offensively this year.
Losing Fox stinks but maybe there was a signing issue. Who knows with prospects anyway. This is no where near the Phaneuf trade where the Flames got all older depth assets back. In this deal, aside from Fox both guys the Flames got are quite young and should still improve significantly. Flames also benefit from having Peters info on both players, Brad clearly trusts Bill so we'll see how this plays out. Dougie is excellent but I am quite excited to add both Lindholm and Hanifin to the squad as I was not big on Ferland moving forward.
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