Quote:
Originally Posted by The Cobra
As players get closer to UFA, their value decreases. Especially if they get traded to a team that sees them as a difficult sign. That doesn't mean they still don't have decent value, but it is decreasing.
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Agreed. A team can just wait until they reach UFA and give up no assets to sign them.
Though it has been said often in other threads, it is likely the organizational mandate is to try to put forward the best team now to compete. Where this mandate comes from is unknown but Treliving is the person saying it at press conferences.
Unless a trade makes the team better to compete now or the near future - even if the GM liked it from an asset management view - it may have been a difficult sell in this organization. This assumes the organization is telling him to compete now. If Treliving is the source of the mandate, then it is unlikely he seriously looks at a futures trade for Johnny or Matthew this summer.
With the movement this summer, I doubt there were many hockey trades available for either Johnny or Matthew that didn't leave the team in a worse position to compete today. I think that those two players in contract years will probably play very well (hopefully) and make a difficult summer for the Flames.
Honestly, if the team crashes like so many are predicting then the path forward is clear and you burn it down. I have my doubts that this team is bad enough to be selling at the trade deadline.