[stemit14]

I know that Conroy won’t sell everything like some of us would like to see to get a ton of young players in this draft. But, hypothetically, what combinations of assets below could potentially get the flames two more picks in the top 15 of this draft?

Andersson
Coleman (with retention)
Mangiapane (with retention)
Vancouver’s 2024 1st round pick (27th overall)
Calgary’s 2024 2nd round pick (41st overall)
Dallas’s 2024 2nd round pick (61st overall)
Pelletier
Posposil

To be clear - I don’t want to trade those pieces. I just consider those to be the most valuable assets that Conroy might consider trading if he had to give quality to get more picks in the top 15. Obviously, you need teams eager to trade for this to work because teams never want to give up high picks especially the week of the draft.

The best bets for trade partners in that group are teams desperate to take that next step to make the playoffs. That includes Ottawa (7th overall), New Jersey (10th overall), Buffalo (11th overall) and Detroit (15th overall). I think Ottawa would be a long shot because their pick is so high and they are going to be forced to surrender their 2025 pick already so it’s unlikely they trade their first round pick this year. So that leaves New Jersey, Buffalo and Detroit.

I mentioned an Andersson for 10th overall from New Jersey in my last post… I think any of New Jersey, Buffalo or Detroit could use Andersson and I think he is the only flame that could return a top 15 pick on his own. Conroy can also negotiate from a position of strength (somewhat) if he makes it clear that Andersson would only be available this summer if the trade is made for picks in this draft - not the 2025 draft. If none of the teams step up then Conroy could wait till the TDL in 2025, the draft in 2025 or the TDL in 2026 to trade Andersson. He isn’t in a rush. This could hopefully create a bidding war between these teams to trade for Andersson right now using their first round pick as the core trade piece. Hopefully that gets New Jersey to step up and pay for Andersson so the flames get to pick back-to-back.

With Andersson traded, could something like Mangiapane (50% retained) + Pelletier + Vancouver’s 2024 first round pick (27th overall) + Dallas’s 2nd round pick (61st overall) be enough to get 15th overall from Detroit? Too much? Too little? So hard to get teams to make these trades so it’s tough to know the market. I just really want a bunch of picks in the top 15 this year. It would be a dream scenario to somehow come out of this draft with something like Iginla + Catton/Lindstrom + Yakemchuk/Silayev/Dickinson/Hage/Helenius.