I think that the value of Gaudreau that other teams were willing to trade for was based on his most current year rather than is 2018-19 year.
There likely was not enough value in Gaudreau to trade him without bringing back cap space and a certain degree of risk.
There were 107 contracts signed since sept 1. The Flames had the #5 and #13 highest cap hits.
They ranked 5th in committing to cap space out of 31 team...10.5 M although the Jets passed them if Statsny's 6.5 M was considered a UFA signing rather than a trade jumping from 8.45 to 14.95 M
The Flames have 5.7 M to sign Kylington and Mangiapane. plus add 2 d-men Mackey and Petrovic and 3 other forwards as Magniapane makes 10
The Flames are basically right up against the cap.
The go forward plan would be to Gaudreau to play well and increase his value.
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