Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Potential Gaudreau trades: Rest of Eastern Conference Post#253

Enoch Root · 10-04-2020, 10:22 AM

The Flames should not be 'adamant' to trade him, however. That would be a mistake. Some people are looking at this as 'we are going to lose him to FA, so we have to get something'. That is overly simplistic, IMO.

We need to look at it as: what do we have now? And then we can conclude that any trade worth less than that is a bad trade.

If we do nothing, we have 2 years of a 1st line player at a very good cost. We also have an option of re-signing him. That option is of limited value of course, because, as many people believe, the chances of re-signing him are low. But if we don't, we have $6.75M in free cap space.

In other words, the minimum value for Johnny is two years of very good value, plus $6.75M in cap space when he is gone.

Any trade has to be worth more than that, and trading him for 'pieces' doesn't make any sense.

This is different than the Iginla trade. With Iginla, the team was rebuilding, so keeping him had little to no value. Therefore, any pieces acquired in trade was better than nothing.

But the Flames aren't rebuilding. The core is mostly in their prime. This is a team that is looking to add to the core, not break it down (whether you agree with that strategy or not is irrelevant, because that is what is happening). So two years of Johnny is VERY valuable. And if he walks, $6.75M is very valuable.

So trading him only makes sense if it improves the core NOW.

10-04-2020, 10:22 AM	#334
Enoch Root Franchise Player Join Date: May 2012 Exp:	The Flames should not be 'adamant' to trade him, however. That would be a mistake. Some people are looking at this as 'we are going to lose him to FA, so we have to get something'. That is overly simplistic, IMO. We need to look at it as: what do we have now? And then we can conclude that any trade worth less than that is a bad trade. If we do nothing, we have 2 years of a 1st line player at a very good cost. We also have an option of re-signing him. That option is of limited value of course, because, as many people believe, the chances of re-signing him are low. But if we don't, we have $6.75M in free cap space. In other words, the minimum value for Johnny is two years of very good value, plus $6.75M in cap space when he is gone. Any trade has to be worth more than that, and trading him for 'pieces' doesn't make any sense. This is different than the Iginla trade. With Iginla, the team was rebuilding, so keeping him had little to no value. Therefore, any pieces acquired in trade was better than nothing. But the Flames aren't rebuilding. The core is mostly in their prime. This is a team that is looking to add to the core, not break it down (whether you agree with that strategy or not is irrelevant, because that is what is happening). So two years of Johnny is VERY valuable. And if he walks, $6.75M is very valuable. So trading him only makes sense if it improves the core NOW.