Quote:
Originally Posted by Aarongavey
Trading Kadri would be the opposite of how Conroy has done this rebuild. He has basically done two kinds of trades so far, always mainly for futures.
1) Trade players who are pending free agents to make sure he does not lose an asset for nothing. These trades are obvious (Toffoli, Zadorov, Lindholm, Hanifin, Tanev). Toffoli was more of a trade to fit under the cap as it was done long before the season but for argument sake I will throw him in this bucket.
2) Trade players who are not pending free agents but are veterans in positions where the Flames have obvious replacements who can step in and play the position that the player being traded plays (Markstrom, Mangiapane). Markstrom had an obvious replacement (Wolf). Mangiapane had a slew of options who could play top 9 minutes on the wing (Huberdeau, Sharkey, Kuzmenko, Coleman, Pospisil, Coronato, Zary when he was a winger, Pelletier)
What he has never done in traded a veteran player who is not a pending free agent and plays a position that the organization has no depth or even young options in the system that could take the place of the player he is trading. It would be completely contrary to any trade he has ever done to trade a center when the team has at best 4 players who currently can play center at the NHL level.
If history is any indication the Flames would be way more likely to trade any of the following players if there is a market for any of them this year
Vladar (both a pending free agent and a player who plays a position that the Flames have a pending replacement)
Kuzmenko - pending free agent
Barrie - pending UFA who plays a position where there are many potential replacements
Andersson - one could say eventually there are potential replacements in the system, still feel that if this trade happens it does not happen until next year
Coleman - player who has a potential replacement in the system (doubt Conroy pulls the trigger).
The trade that makes the least sense is Kadri with 4 years remaining and playing a position that the team has no organizational depth. I would be shocked if Conroy made that trade based on the pre-requisites for most of his previous trades.
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I think you’re right.
I think this year will be mostly quiet from a trade perspective for the Flames, which is fine considering last year. I think they will try to move Vladar, Kuzmenko too. Rooney if there’s a taker.
Andersson, I think, is a maybe. If some team wants to get aggressive and make an offer that really meets the Flames wants/needs at this point, I think they would do it. Especially if Andersson doesn’t appear to be committed to extending. Even if he is, it’s might not make sense given the pipeline. It would definitely be a risk though.
I suppose the one guy I’m most curious about is Pelletier. Where does he fit? Passed through waivers earlier in the year so I can’t imagine his stock is too high around the league. Maybe he’s moved for a prospect of similar pedigree and stays within their own system? He’s already been passed by a few wingers in the system and I suspect that list could grow in the coming years with guys like Basha, Gridin, Battaglia coming. I don’t see room for Pelletier at this point.