[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

Sorry, you think the Flames should have been negotiating with these players prior to the trade? You realize they can't, that's tampering.

Not if Florida grants them permission to speak to the players, which Calgary should have demanded so they could complete their due diligence. Calgary granted Florida access to Tkachuk so they could do their due diligence and give a bottom-line number and contract details for the sign and trade. Or do you think the Flames negotiated the terms of the Tkachuk deal and Florida just accepted whatever was in that deal?

And Florida (and any other suitor) would never give that permission to chat with them prior to a deal - because what happens with those players if the Flames pick a different trade partner deal.

Not accurate at all. Teams do this all the time especially when there are conditions attached to the player or the player is a big-ticket item. Players have a lot of control where they can play these days, so the smart teams are making sure they are not trading for someone else's problem. You think for a second that Buffalo wasn't 100% certain that both the players they were acquiring in the Eichel trade were not on board with Buffalo? They had that verified and sewn up before that deal was agreed to.

There was 0 option for the Flames to pre negotiate with a player, unless they happened to be dealing with another RFA asset on the other side who also said they wanted out.

Why would that be? If I'm trading for a player who has a year left on his contract, and they are in the negotiating window (which both players are), so long as I have permission from the team holding that contract, I can ask the player whatever I want and negotiate just as the team who owns their rights. This is how teams can trade for a player then have a contract done almost immediately. They've talked and have agreed to terms prior to execution of the trade. Walsh was pissed with Florida because the conversation never took place.

Your assertation that they even could have talked to these players is disconnected from the reality of the situation.

The reality of the situation is the Flames didn't ask. Huberdeau's agent disclosed that. They could have asked and been given permission, but that never happened. It's disturbing that you seem to believe there is this huge cone of silence where teams can't get permission to have conversations with players when they are on the table in a trade, or there are not other ways to get information on whether a player would be open to playing for your team.
Agents are back channels to players and can facilitate communication without tampering. How the hell do you think trades get worked out, especially those where NTC and NMC are involved? Teams talk to players through sanctioned means (permissions) or back channels (agents). You should be more concerned that these conversations didn't take place than worrying about how they do.