Friedman's Nov 1st 32 thoughts update on Flames

[sureLoss]

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article...ugh-penalties/

5. Eric Francis with a good scoop on Tuesday, that Calgary called a timeout on all contract negotiations. The Flames enter Wednesday 2-6-1, 15th in the Western Conference, re-considering their approach. They were far along on an extension with Noah Hanifin, likely above Devon Toews’ number ($50.75M) in Colorado, when things broke off. That was Hanifin’s decision, as I’m not sure he’d want to commit if the Flames embark in a radical new direction.

Owner Murray Edwards attended the outdoor game in Edmonton, and you don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out why Eric’s intel came when it did. Clearly, there were conversations about how to approach the rest of this season.

6. Aside from Hanifin, there was at least one offer exchanged with Chris Tanev, but things weren’t close. Elias Lindholm’s ask remains higher than Calgary is willing to go. So I don’t believe there’s anything else in Hanifin’s neighbourhood of nearness. (All the best to Nikita Zadorov and family, as he missed Wednesday’s game for family reasons.) Positive: Connor Zary looked smooth in his NHL debut.

7. An exec from another team said he heard that the Flames might rattle their room by putting a veteran player on waivers. That obviously hasn’t happened.

8. One thing I have heard is that the Flames are committed to finding ways to make Jonathan Huberdeau better. On its surface, that sounds stupid, since he’s in year one of an eight-year megadeal, but there are always situations where teams give up on players, throwing up their hands in frustration. That’s the wrong answer, no matter how frustrating things get. Calgary spends a lot of time talking about solutions to his early-season malaise. Of course, there is onus on Huberdeau, too.

[Muta]

RE: #8 - maybe make a play for Duclair? Pair him up with Huberdeau and see if that chemistry reignites? Just another option to consider.

[Hockey_Ninja]

Also, from the twitter insider:

https://twitter.com/user/status/1719930689909596339

[Samonadreau]

Originally Posted by Muta

RE: #8 - maybe make a play for Duclair? Pair him up with Huberdeau and see if that chemistry reignites? Just another option to consider.

If Flames are moving assets right now, it needs to be for futures or players that haven't hit their prime yet.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by Samonadreau

If Flames are moving assets right now, it needs to be for futures or players that haven't hit there prime yet.

Considering the above point, and that it's the Flames, you can book a Duclair trade.

They wanted him in the summer when FLA came knocking for Hanifin.

[mile]

They can have Hunt and Oesterle for Duclair



Can't imagine he would cost very much with 1 goal in 9 games.

[Ashasx]

...more than $7.25 million AAV?

For Hanifin?

And HE had to break off talks?

What was this team doing?

[Strange Brew]

Flames offered Hanifin over $7.5 million for 8 years?

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Best. Nix. Ever..

[robertsfanatic]

never been on team "tank" but definitely on team "trade UFA assets"

[Enoch Root]

No thanks to 8 X $7.5M for Hanifin.

It is blatantly obvious that the Flames are butter soft, both physically and emotionally. And Hanifin is part of that problem, not part of its solution. So, again, no thanks.

Trade him before the deadline.

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Flames offered Hanifin over $7.5 million for 8 years?

I can't believe the Flames offered that.

I also can't believe Hanafin's camp said no.

[Ashasx]

The days of having to massively overpay to entice anything but top tier talent to stay has to be over for this team. You can't operate like this anymore.

[ForeverFlameFan]

8 x 7.5m is a fair offer for Hanifin’s services.

Just won’t be in Calgary.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

8 x 7.5m is a fair offer for Hanifin’s services.

Just won’t be in Calgary.

If #3/4 d-men were getting 7.5 AAV, then no one could afford a competent blue line.

Let's just not use Nurse as a frame of reference for how d-men should be priced. In fact, every team should ignore the Nurse benchmark. It isn't a benchmark, it's stupidity.

[Igottago]

The Flames are extremely lucky these guys (Lindholm and Hanafin) didn't sign. Can you imagine they sealed up both contracts and this season was going on?

[TenaciousC]

Flames dodged a massive bullet with Hanifin turning that deal down. He’s a solid d-man and skates like a deer but when the games get hard (playoffs) he turns into a ghost and kinda soft in his own end

[Ashasx]

We can discuss and argue about rebuilding and retooling until the end of days, but if there's one thing you simply can't mess up when trying to build a contending team, it's the cap structure of your team.

You can already say we're held back by Huberdeau and Kadri. I don't even understand how you can consider $7.5 million AAV for Hanifin. Over 8 years potentially? How could they be so willfully inefficient with the cap?

I really hope this news isn't completely true because I'm no longer sure Conroy has the ability to do this job.

[Locke]

Take that money and use it to build a catapult and launch Hanifin into the Sun.

[Jiggy_12]

I wonder which guy was the “veteran player” they pondered putting on waivers for a shake up