If this is all just posturing by Craig to squeeze other teams for more assets in a potential Andersson trade down the road then kudos, I'm all for it. But after passing up on the chance to trade Coleman coming off a 30 goal season that he'll never replicate, I'm not so sure.
I just hope we aren't passing up major opportunities to bolster the rebuild just to keep guys here because it "looks good" for the Flames to retain players after what happened with Johnny, Tkachuk, etc, etc.
Defence is the most stacked position for the Flames with prospects (Parekh, Mews, Morin, Poirier, Bru, Grushnikov, etc.). If there's a chance to turn Anderssson into assets that can address other areas of weakness (Centers) then it's foolish to not even consider that IMO.
Also with Mantha on LTIR, Barrie a non-factor, Kuzmenko losing his mojo, and Vladar playing average at best, it's not like we are swimming in grade A assets at the deadline. Last season we ripped off the bandaid and made all those UFA trades, now an Andersson trade this season is the next natural step in the rebuild IMO.
These are the moments of a rebuild/retool whatever you want to call it that are uncomfortable, but I'd rather see the Flames take a big swing for once. Trade the max-value asset and trust your scouts and development team to bring along young guys over the next few seasons to step into that spot.
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