[Redliner]

A lot of these trade proposals sound like someone caught up in a bidding war on ebay. Everyone wants to see the Flames get better, but at what cost? If you can do this for futures alone then maybe - MAYBE - it's worth the risk. You probably have to have salary going the other way but that has to be someone like Monahan and/or Zadorov, and I don't think Buffalo bites for either of those players. You don't gut your team when it is just starting to gel. Trading Hanifin is a bad idea, packages like Monahan + Dube/Mangiapane + Valimaki + Zary/Coronato/Pelletier + multiple high picks is insanity.

I could understand wanting to "swing for the fences" a little more if Eichel was healthy, but dude has a broken neck. He MIGHT be the same player after his surgery, or he might be a $10M Joakim Nordstrom. Even if he recovers completely, how do you keep him along with a $9M+ Tkachuk, Gaudreau likely at a similar number, and Mangiapane due a huge raise? You'll have to shed talent to get under the cap, which might recoup some of the picks you spend to get Eichel but it makes your team weaker in the near term, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of "win now". Building a team around one or two expensive "elite" players doesn't make you a contender, it makes you the Edmonton Oilers.