I think injuries to teams that see themselves as contenders are going to influence the timing of trades. This year, putting a player on LTIR during the season gives you a maximum of $3,817,000 in cap relief. That means even a team right up against the cap could fit in Andersson or Coleman as an injury replacement with only a small amount of retention. Kadri will be trickier. The teams most in need of a #2 C can't add that kind of salary without cap going back.
Purely from a business standpoint, the best thing that could happen to the Flames is for a high-flying team to lose an RD for the season, becoming a motivated buyer for Andersson. Of course, we can't make that happen for Christmas; last I heard, Santa Claus does not carry hockey injuries on his sleigh.
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‘You see in Calgary, [Ryan] Huska is no joke. It’s good. He’s really set on a specific model defensively. If you can be reliable, you have the freedom to play offence.’
—Ethan Wyttenbach
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