This time in the Flames lifecycle kind of reminds me of Colorado when they finally pulled the plug on the old core and traded O'Reilly and Duchene when it was clear they needed a new direction. The guys they got back were pillars for their future cup run, and "helped" them draft higher in the short-term. This is what the Flames need to be doing with Kadri/Coleman (I think Andersson is gone for sure already).
For reference, here's the trade tree from what Colorado got for their vet's at the time:
O’Reilly trade: Zadorov, Grigorenko, Compher + the pick that turned into A.J. Greer (after a trade-down).
Duchene trade: Girard, Kamenev, Bowers, Hammond, (1st Round Pick), (3rd Round Pick) that became Bowen Byram and Matthew Stienburg. Plus a second-rounder that was later flipped as part of further moves.
|