[kermitology]

Tkachuk

He's probably going to get a king's ransom if teams are aware that he's available, and most teams will consider his history. He's not destined to stay with Calgary, his contract dictates that. If you can get a lot for him, you do it.

Gaudreau is obviously another option, and that is entirely going to depend on how much he wants and if he's willing to sign another contract. If he isn't, then he's number 2 in line. He's capable of generating a decent return and will be an excellent addition to a team that already has an elite line driver. For that reason, I don't see any way that you get a #1C using him as the key piece. Like this notion that he can be used to get Eichel.. it's pure fantasy. If Buffalo acquired Gaudreau it would be to put with Eichel. There are no players that will result in an upgrade without taking on some serious risk.

Monahan isn't going to return enough to warrant trading him. He's a good second-line centre. I'm actually surprised that it took so long for teams to bottle him up. I had concerns after his rookie season that he only seemed capable of scoring from the slot.

Generally.. the Flames are in a bad way. They don't have much of a future, they've got seriously depreciating assets, and frankly, I don't see a plan to be successful. They need to be bad to help them into that chance of getting an elite talent, and they need to stop trying to take shortcuts to get it. You can find diamonds in the rough (Gaudreau, Fox, etc) but they come with risk and they're still not at the level of McDavid, Matthews, etc.