2014/2015 Trade Speculation and Rumors

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Unlikely to get Vlasic, as he should be one of the building blocks for the Sharks. Better to draft a guy like him (in the second round), although it will take some time for that pick to develop.

Edit: Matty beat me to the punch on the building block point. He is really good and relatively young for a Dman

[Husky]

If the Flames are moving assets they should be looking for a RW not a D. The D core is fine now and for the next few years. Draft and develop here (for the most part).

[Fighting Banana Slug]

I think the Flames will be looking at improving the D, by getting bigger and more physical. They get owned in their own zone far too often, especially with the 5-6 pairing.

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by Makarov

I don't watch a lot of Jets games but Byfuglien seems like the heart and soul leader of that team. Doubt they let him go.

They do have internal budget issues they'll need to attend to though. I'm not sold on Byfuglien long-term but a 1-year try out to see how he fits might be worth it. I just have my concerns that he's Anton Babchuk 2.0

[Jason14h]

I'm not sold on Byfuglien long-term but a 1-year try out to see how he fits might be worth it. I just have my concerns that he's Anton Babchuk 2.0

He's done it for years though! He would be a top 10 MVP candidate if not for suspensions and injuries this year.

No chance Winnipeg trades him

[PugnaciousIntern]

Originally Posted by Husky

If the Flames are moving assets they should be looking for a RW not a D. The D core is fine now and for the next few years. Draft and develop here (for the most part).

Good RWs are signable. Good D are rarely ever available, and always at a premium. We can shift LWs to RW, centers to RW, but D are on their own island. And sure, the core (defined as Gio/Brodie/Russell/Wideman?) are a strong top 4, Gio's injury has highlighted just how weak our D depth is. That should be the priority early in a rebuild, because developing D takes time.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Maybe I am the only one, but I don't want to go hunting for a defenseman. Keep in mind Giordano is down, and that hasn't helped much on the back end at all.

What we really need is secondary scoring. We only had a good March because of our 1st line.

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

He's done it for years though! He would be a top 10 MVP candidate if not for suspensions and injuries this

And yet the Jets seem to look better without him than with him. Not the way we win without Giordano but still miss him deeply - they actually look like a better team with him out of the lineup.

I don't watch the jets often (and when I do I'm not blown away by Byfuglien) and he was a forward with the Blackhawks, so I don't really know what to make of him. I'm not against bringing him in - I just have my reservations. All i really know is that his defensive positioning seems suspect... But he's a huge body with a big booming shot... That's pretty much what I remember of Babchuk.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

I don't know. Gio going down has likely proven the D, especially that second pairing is likely better than initially thought. But I do feel the 3rd pairing could use some beefing up, and even within the top 4. Great at moving the puck, jumping up into the rush, but much of their success on the defensive side has come from their pure willingness to sacrifice the body and block shots. We often still get hemmed in and don't have enough puck possession because as a team we simply run around and block block block.

I'm not too sure that strategy or way of keeping pucks out of the net sustainable or even desirable over the course of multiple seasons. It's doable for maybe a year or two, especially when the team knows they have to out compete every night to win. But as much as we hate to admit it, as this team gets more skilled, the sacrifice at the level we've seen this year is going to reduce, and I'm not even sure players like Russell can keep it up for much longer even if they want too.

I think this team is still obviously still a ways off from being elite, and we need both, upgrade on D and in secondary scoring.

[Caged Great]

I was meaning that Vlasic would be the Flames #3, not that he's a #3.

Anyway, I think that is the main piece that the Flames need to target moving into next year, a defenseman that is better than Russell and Wideman, but not quite as good as Brodie and Gio.

As for secondary scoring, that will sort itself out when Bennett and Poirier likely make the jump next year. Calgary is already one of the top scoring teams in the league, so adding to the secondary scoring, while nice, it isn't vital.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Husky

If the Flames are moving assets they should be looking for a RW not a D. The D core is fine now and for the next few years. Draft and develop here (for the most part).

Yeah that's why we took a player on waivers from the 4th worst defensive team in the league to be our 5th defenceman. As said good defencemen are at a premium while you can get a secondary scoring RW like say Lee Stempniak pretty cheaply.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

Yeah that's why we took a player on waivers from the 4th worst defensive team in the league to be our 5th defenceman. As said good defencemen are at a premium while you can get a secondary scoring RW like say Lee Stempniak pretty cheaply.

Our number 1 and number 5 were out with injuries so they lacked depth but the top 4 is pretty solid.

I think they should address the D (Erhoff would be great) but the top 6 could use some size and an upgrade

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Our number 1 and number 5 were out with injuries so they lacked depth but the top 4 is pretty solid.

I think they should address the D (Erhoff would be great) but the top 6 could use some size and an upgrade

The top four is okay but even before injuries I think they were playing too many minutes. I like Wideman and Russel but they can be upgraded.

[dammage79]

Sucks to hear the Flames were close to nabbing Myers. He's been a revelation since going to WPG.

But Murray did right accepting the package he got in the Kane deal. Flames weren't able to pony up that much.

As far as off-season acquisitions go, I would not be surprised at all to see the Flames take a shot at an RFA or two with offer sheets or trade with their surplus of picks.

I suspect there'll be some good draft day deals.

[JohnnySkittles]

Originally Posted by automaton 3

They were speculating the asking price would have been Monahan or Bennett + for Myers.

I doubt that was it though. Everyone in this organization seems to LOVE Bennett, and even more so Monahan, no way we would've/will involve them in any trade. More likely it was a collection of pieces, something like Poirier + Sven + 2015 1st with maybe Smid or some other defensemen to fill in the hole.

As for Vlasic, no way we have the pieces to get him outside of our core guys. Which we should not do considering Vlasic is soon to be 30, while half our core can't even legally drink in the States yet.

[saillias]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Sucks to hear the Flames were close to nabbing Myers. He's been a revelation since going to WPG.

But Murray did right accepting the package he got in the Kane deal. Flames weren't able to pony up that much.

As far as off-season acquisitions go, I would not be surprised at all to see the Flames take a shot at an RFA or two with offer sheets or trade with their surplus of picks.

I suspect there'll be some good draft day deals.

Agreed, Hawks are in caphell as usual, so take a run at Brandon Saad. He's the right age and the right kind of player.

[sureLoss]

Predators sign KHL free agent Steve Moses to 1 yr $1 mil deal

http://predators.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=762178

Essentially the Mike Cammalleri of the KHL

Low risk high reward type signing for the Predators

[ForeverFlameFan]

Moses is having a fantastic year... Nice signing for the Preds.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

I was meaning that Vlasic would be the Flames #3, not that he's a #3.

Anyway, I think that is the main piece that the Flames need to target moving into next year, a defenseman that is better than Russell and Wideman, but not quite as good as Brodie and Gio.

As for secondary scoring, that will sort itself out when Bennett and Poirier likely make the jump next year. Calgary is already one of the top scoring teams in the league, so adding to the secondary scoring, while nice, it isn't vital.

Giordano/Vlasic would be in the running for the best defensive pairing in the NHL.

Brodie on the second pairing with Russell.

Wideman playing 16-20 minutes with ultra PP time, depending on how he's going.

[Dienasty]

The Flames biggest issue is not having a second line.

I think the Flames should make a push to get Ryan O'Reilly to be the second line center.

I would offer Wideman+Colborne and a 2nd

Or Colborne and a 1st.

With O'Reilly and Bennett on the second line we would have another threat that teams would have to deal with.