Spector: Kris Russell would net a 2nd line forward for sure

[JiriHrdina]

We should wait until Torts decides who he irrationally hates and then pounce.
I'm hoping for Wennberg.

[Fire of the Phoenix]

If the Flames trade Russell, I wonder if they will retain salary?

Russell @ $1.3m should have most teams in the league interested to some degree.

[Finger Cookin]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

We should wait until Torts decides who he irrationally hates and then pounce.
I'm hoping for Wennberg.

Won't it be easier to just figure out who Tortorella doesn't irrationally hate?

[H2SO4(aq)]

We are currently playing with 4 defensemen. I don't think we have the luxury of moving anyone on the blue line.

[Gaudreau]

I feel like a lot of people are going to miss Russell even if we get a solid return.
In a perfect world, it'd be nice to trade Wideman instead. Retain salary on Wideman and all of a sudden you could net a decent return.

[Harry Lime]

Chicago sending Bickell to anyone probably includes one or two of Schmaltz, Hartman, Pokka or MacNeil, depending on return. I think that is the main reason that Bickell is still a Hawk.I would trade Russell there under those circumstances.

Shaking loose Wennberg from Columbus would be great.

[Crumpy-Gunt]

Originally Posted by Gaudreau

I feel like a lot of people are going to miss Russell even if we get a solid return.
In a perfect world, it'd be nice to trade Wideman instead. Retain salary on Wideman and all of a sudden you could net a decent return.

I agree with this. Russ is younger faster and in my opinion a better player. He can thrive with a partner like hamilton. Wideman makes 5.25 and if we retain some salary he would look really good at the deadline to a lot of teams.

I'm not for trading Kris Russell unless it's a very good player or 1st round pick coming back. I think he is terrific. If we can resign him at around 3.5 that would be great.

He brings a lot to this team and I think he is a bit under appreciated judging by some posts I've read lately

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by Gaudreau

I feel like a lot of people are going to miss Russell even if we get a solid return.
In a perfect world, it'd be nice to trade Wideman instead. Retain salary on Wideman and all of a sudden you could net a decent return.

Retaining salary on Wideman is not the hard part in trading him. The hard part is he has a NMC. Have to think for him to waive mid season would have to be to a contender. There's probably a small list he would go to, and who knows if that small list of teams would even be interested in him. I don't think anybody would have issues with his offence ability. His defence ability might have some teams to think again. If anybody is thinking flames trade Wideman to Columbus for a top 6 forward, then you should probably stop thinking about it.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by FBI

Wideman looked pretty good with Gio. Maybe he won't be gone before Russell.

If that pie plays well I wonder if they try Brodie and Hamilton together?

[Strange Brew]

With the money and term attached to our top 3 on defense, I really believe the other defenseman are all expendable. Ideally I would prefer Russell as our 4th, but his contract makes him more valuable in the trade market. If the trade market's not great maybe you try and sign him to a reasonable contract and dump Wideman at next years deadline.

IMO Flames need an A+ prospect that has possibility of emerging as a top line player. Those don't come cheap.

[sureLoss]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

IMO Flames need an A+ prospect that has possibility of emerging as a top line player. Those don't come cheap.

A+ prospects with top line possibility aren't usually traded away unless your name is George McPhee.

Well I guess Duclair in the Yandle trade counts too.

[Harry Lime]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

If that pie plays well I wonder if they try Brodie and Hamilton together?

I've had a suspicion that Brodie/Hamilton has been the plan for a while now.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

A+ prospects with top line possibility aren't usually traded away unless your name is George McPhee.

Well I guess Duclair in the Yandle trade counts too.

Maybe A+ is too strong. How about top 15 first round pick or even a Turris type. Evader Kane would have fit the bill. Maybe a guy that has some blemishes or question marks on his record. Appreciate the price will always be high.

[Flamescuprun2018]

If the prospect is right its a no brainer. We need elite skill with some size at the wing. We might need to be sweeten the deal beyond Russell to get the trade done with an A- or B prospect as well.

Wideman is going no where until next season with his contract. He is our obvious trade deadline move in early 2017. By then one of our prospects should be ready for top 4 duty. We have many good candidates.

Russell is a top 4 who will be playing 5/6 much of the time once Brodie back. His trade value may fall as a result. He is very valuable in any trade right now. With Smid healthy, Nakladal knocking at the door and Kulak almost there we are in a good position to make a move.

Do not forget Hudler may be traded at deadline given our next season cap situation. We really need highly skilled NHL ready top 6 wingers we dont have to replace him on first line. We also need to find one for Bennett to gel with on 2nd line. Poirier is disappointing so far (but early) with noone waiting in the wings ready.

We are two or three highly skilled wingers short, which shows in our offensive production so far.

I sure hope Tre is focused in wingers now that he has significantly improved our D prospect pool over the past year. Centre position (Jankowski, Arnold, Granlund) and goalie (Gillies, McDonald, Schneider) are also well stocked.

Only reason to hold off on trade is fear of injury. It is a luxury to have 5 legitimate top 4 defensemen for such scenarios.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by Flamescuprun2018

We need elite skill with some size at the wing.
.

Kyle Okposo? Looking at potential UFA's next season, he fits about every check box we need - big, 4 years younger than Hudler, and probably a few bucks cheaper to resign.

Russel + Hudler for Okposo + ?

[Harry Lime]

Okposo is making 2.8 million this season and is looking for a significant raise, that would put him in Hamilton territory, or higher. The only way that the money would work is a trade of Russell + picks/prospects.

Edit : And NY is pretty heavy already on defense. Probably not the best trading partner for Russell, but there are always other possibilities.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

Kyle Okposo? Looking at potential UFA's next season, he fits about every check box we need - big, 4 years younger than Hudler, and probably a few bucks cheaper to resign.

Russel + Hudler for Okposo + ?

Apparently he is looking for the same bucks as Hudler so we should steer clear.


David Perron is having a bad year but has had a few good seasons in the past. I would want more than just him if we were trading Russell but would be okay with moving Wideman for him (just to clear that salary off the books next year)

[calgaryblood]

Originally Posted by robaur

Have you not watched the games? Flames are in dire need of scoring depth. We only go as far as Gaudreau/Monahan/Hudler take us right now.

Really, we are going to make a big trade after 6 games of low scoring? We pretty much have the exact same team as last year and we were one of the highest goal scoring teams.

No need to panic, the goals will come.

[Vinny01]

What teams need a top 4 D pretty badly?

Dallas
Boston
Oilers
Columbus
Canucks
Kings

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by calgaryblood

Really, we are going to make a big trade after 6 games of low scoring? We pretty much have the exact same team as last year and we were one of the highest goal scoring teams.

No need to panic, the goals will come.

At the end of the day the second highest shooting % helped that out. Lance Bouma going to score 16 goals again? Wideman 15?

You say we need defense with our second best Dman on the shelf. Name the top 6 forwards on this team. I can count 4 legit guys then Bennett who is hopeful. This team needs another top 6 and we have a $30M blueline with 7 guys making over $2.6M per season when healthy