The Athletic did a piece recently where they assessed "contract efficiency" based on their own net rating. Still very subjective but Hanifin's value was assessed at 6.1 million a season. He's a UFA and they always get a premium on top of fair value that balances out the underpaid entry level years, but I do think 8 million a year for him will never be considered a good value deal for the flames once its signed. It's not a terrible contract either, he should be productive throughout it and he could even play top pairing minutes for a team like the flames without any elite dmen.
I agree with you though that either outcome is OK. Flames get a key piece for a long time if he stays and they need someone to play those minutes, or a big haul if he's traded and better draft picks the next couple years as long as the Montreal deal doesn't backfire. I lean towards preferring to see him traded and a more aggressive rebuild generally as I don't think the retool approach is going to lead to a very strong team with the lack of higher end potential in the prospect cupboard. Locking him in probably means a slower less efficient rebuild of the team as far as collecting high end offensive talent. But I do think if him Tanev and Markstrom get traded at the deadline people are going to be shocked by how back the flames get defensively and they might be pretty tough to watch next year.
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