[Hackey]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Said it before but imo hanifin is already better than Hamilton.

His compete below the hash marks blows Hamilton out of the water. Had hanifin played with Giordano last year I think it's safe to say hanifins advanced metrics would be through the roof. Giordano feeding me shovels of crow every game last year, only scored 4 less than Hamilton while providing so much more on nightly basis.

As a group the flames D is just a bit better now than it was last season. I don't have a bunch if stats on hand to add weight to this, but Hanifin always stood out for me in games against carolina for his mobility and first pass. Giving hamonic or stone or Giordano an easier out either by skating or passing it out would be a huge improvement. Too many times last year Giordano was left out to dry either with a lazy chip pass into the skates or a whipper along the Dasher that gio has to skate after (and get crunched).

Hamilton was a maddening player.

Compete is such a hard thing to quantify and is too.often used in a cliche usually missing the mark, but there was something always wanting about Hamilton's play.

Happy the flames are in a proactive situation like this. If true the flames have been discussing a Hamilton move for 18 months or more the Hamonic deal gets a fresh context. I don't think you can parlay a 1st and 2x2nds into hanifin, so capitalizing on Hamilton's high season as well as ferlands is a shocking change for this organization and gives me some renewed faith in Treliving; he learned from the Bouma fiasco.

If the move was to replace Hamilton with Hamonic, a guy who clearly gutted it out in the trenches last year, it removes some of the sting from that deal.

If true about how long Hamilton discussions have been going on, it also.makes me comfortable in believing this was the best deal Calgary was going to get for him. I think there was definitely something going on with New York, but Gorton is a freaking miser over there. Guy must be infuriating to deal with, so I am glad the flames circled away. Grind out another deal later where he knows if he doesn't flex, you'll walk. I wonder if the sticking point was Fox. If he has his heart set on the Islanders or rangers, that's a chip worth more to them than basically anyone else. Makes me wonder if Fox being in play to Carolina was appreciated after the fact for a bit of payback to rangers for not dealing.

Fun to think of the organizational dynamics at play.

This is one thing about the trade that I've thought about that could make it a major win for the Flames. I think we definitely took a bit more risk but I think we sold high on both Hamilton and Ferland. Ferland I'm skeptical puts it together and becomes a true 20+ goal scorer in the league. I could be wrong but it wasn't something I was confident about if he stuck with the Flames. He isn't a true top 6.

Hamilton may have topped out offensively as well. He seems like a 40-50pts player and to take that next step to 60+ isn't something I thought would happen. Regardless of that though his defensive game is always what I felt might never develop and with his lack of compete and potentially other issues, I think his value might be at its highest as well. If Hamilton is on the trade block again you can bet GM's are going to be weary.

Hanifin and Lindholm both seem like they have untapped potential. Probably more so for Hanifin but even with Lindholm he already is a decent top 6 forward and hopefully with his skill set can become a legit top 6 player. I think everyone can agree that the odds of him becoming a 50+ point player are greater than Ferlands. If Hanifin never develops into the same offensive player that Hamilton is I'm perfectly fine with that. I think he has potential to develop other aspects of his game that will ultimately make him a more valuable player.

So ya I think we are taking some risk but it is definitely calculated risk. The risk is minimal because as it stands now I think the trade is close to even with us having a lot more upside. Hamilton and Ferland may never be worth this again and we got two players I'm cautiously optimistic will improve and ultimately win us this trade.