2025/2026 Season Trade Rumours and Speculation Thread

[ForeverFlameFan]

I wouldn't expect anything instantaneous regarding Kadri. I think he will become a fallback option for many teams that are looking to improve their team, and knowing that he has an extra 3 years left means that a deal with Kadri is not time-limited. I wouldn't be shocked if Kadri was with us past the TDL. He will either be dealt at the TDL or at the draft/July 1st (if retention needs to be involved). We really shouldn't be in a hurry to deal Kadri unless we are wowed with a good enough offer to let him go.

Coleman on the other hand should be gone. Gonna be hard watching these two eventually be gone but it is for the betterment of the Flames long-term.

[TOfan]

Originally Posted by gvitaly

I think it's pretty easy to see where Rhett is coming from. Does he know the exact offers? No, but he can still draw a parallel to the last Cs dealt. Last year Kadri was having a better season than Nelson. Nelson got a 1st + Ritchie, and got extended for $7.5M x 3 in a contract very similar to Kadri's.

For the first couple of months of the season Kadri was playing with a lot more energy, and was the only C name in the rumor mill. Right now after his cold streak and largely disinterested play in January, the insiders are saying the Flames would need to retain in order to get anything back, which makes it seem as though the Kadri stock has depreciated considerably.

I find it hard to believe Kadri’s value changed all that much. He played very well last night, do you think his stock jumped because of it?

Saying the Flames should have traded Kadri last year is also lazy. Did he want to be traded? Like it or not, the Flames were trying to make the playoffs. If you’ve followed this organization for any appreciable amount of time you know they are reluctant to trade players who want to be here and have term. Not saying I agree with that, all the time, but there’s considerable evidence to support that.

Also, the hand wringing over what the ‘right time’ to trade a player is from the outside is a complete waste of energy. Flames fans no control over this and there are numerous factors in player management that are real life considerations teams need to constantly evaluate. There’s are reasons why the vast majority of trades are made at deadline and the offseason.

[Lanny_McDonald]

There's an obvious sweet spot for making the best deal possible. You want to own the market when you can and then extract as much based on the cornering of the market. The Flames owned the market a month to six weeks ago. Not many other teams in sell mode with the quality of talent the Flames had to move. You leverage that and get the best deal before other assets come on the market and give teams other options.

I think that is where Rhett is coming from. The delay in making a deal or accepting a deal has allowed other assets to reach the market and become options. That has changed the market and could make Kadri untradeable at this point, simply because there are other options out there come without the long-term commitment.

So I can understand the frustration and where he's coming from. The team ####ed around with trying to frame what the rebiggle was and the indecisiveness has probably hurt their potential to extricate maximum value. We'll see, but I can understand the frustration hanging out there as we don't trade away players that don't matter in the long run and are only contributing to meaningless wins which hurt our draft position.

[gvitaly]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Last year is irrelevant. He had a full NTC. He couldn't be traded.

Sure he could have, last I checked player with NTCs get asked to waive them all the time. That wasn't the point though, it's just another data point. You have his value last year, let's say Nelson was a good comparable, and you have his speculated right now, so Rhett draws a line between the 2 points, and argues that Kadri's value was higher 2 months ago.

Is it 100% certain to be the case? Of course not. That said when similar arguments are made in order to pump Conroy's tires, like waiting to get more value for Andersson, no one has any problem with it, or questions the point.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by TOfan

Also, the hand wringing over what the ‘right time’ to trade a player is from the outside is a complete waste of energy. Flames fans no control over this and there are numerous factors in player management that are real life considerations teams need to constantly evaluate. There’s are reasons why the vast majority of trades are made at deadline and the offseason.

I just don't live in a world where I snap to the most negative media comment or just make the most negative assumptions when I have very little idea what is going on, and have recent history to suggest the guy knows what he's doing.

Like why?

Is it fun?

Is it a personal hedge so if things don't work out at least you can say I told you so?

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by gvitaly

Sure he could have, last I checked player with NTCs get asked to waive them all the time. That wasn't the point though, it's just another data point. You have his value last year, let's say Nelson was a good comparable, and you have his speculated right now, so Rhett draws a line between the 2 points, and argues that Kadri's value was higher 2 months ago.

Is it 100% certain to be the case? Of course not. That said when similar arguments are made in order to pump Conroy's tires, like waiting to get more value for Andersson, no one has any problem with it, or questions the point.

All the media reports were that Kadri didn't want to waive his NMC last year so there isn't much navel gazing to be had there.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Lanny_McDonald

There's an obvious sweet spot for making the best deal possible. You want to own the market when you can and then extract as much based on the cornering of the market. The Flames owned the market a month to six weeks ago. Not many other teams in sell mode with the quality of talent the Flames had to move. You leverage that and get the best deal before other assets come on the market and give teams other options.

I think that is where Rhett is coming from. The delay in making a deal or accepting a deal has allowed other assets to reach the market and become options. That has changed the market and could make Kadri untradeable at this point, simply because there are other options out there come without the long-term commitment.

So I can understand the frustration and where he's coming from. The team ####ed around with trying to frame what the rebiggle was and the indecisiveness has probably hurt their potential to extricate maximum value. We'll see, but I can understand the frustration hanging out there as we don't trade away players that don't matter in the long run and are only contributing to meaningless wins which hurt our draft position.

How do you know any of this is true with Kadri and Coleman. The trades aren't simple and they can't force other teams to trade and can't force the players to teams that don't want them

[gvitaly]

Originally Posted by Bonded

All the media reports were that Kadri didn't want to waive his NMC last year so there isn't much navel gazing to be had there.

First, that wasn't the main point, it was just a reaction to Jiri simply dismissing the comparison as being irrelevant. I agree it isn't a perfect comparable, but IMO it's the best we've got.

As far as the media reports, I believe it was reported that he was never asked, because they were trying to make the playoffs. The media reports were that he likes it here, and the Flames would need to be offered a lot for them to simply ask Naz.

[D as in David]

Originally Posted by Lanny_McDonald

There's an obvious sweet spot for making the best deal possible. You want to own the market when you can and then extract as much based on the cornering of the market. The Flames owned the market a month to six weeks ago. Not many other teams in sell mode with the quality of talent the Flames had to move. You leverage that and get the best deal before other assets come on the market and give teams other options.

I think that is where Rhett is coming from. The delay in making a deal or accepting a deal has allowed other assets to reach the market and become options. That has changed the market and could make Kadri untradeable at this point, simply because there are other options out there come without the long-term commitment.

So I can understand the frustration and where he's coming from. The team ####ed around with trying to frame what the rebiggle was and the indecisiveness has probably hurt their potential to extricate maximum value. We'll see, but I can understand the frustration hanging out there as we don't trade away players that don't matter in the long run and are only contributing to meaningless wins which hurt our draft position.

Where's the evidence of this market other than in the heads of fans? Making up a theoretical market to support a narrative does not make it true.

[PepsiFree]

I’m not sure what’s happening but I do know that one way or another someone did something worth criticising and I’m mad as hell about it.

[Matty81]

We have no idea what the situation is like behind the scenes if a deal is on the table and can't get worked up about stuff we can't control, but no question moving Kadri will probably give the flames 2 or 3 draft slots if he gets moved which is probably worth at least another 2nd, maybe more at the high end of the draft. He's a more impactful player for a team that barely scores and has no centers than Coleman is.

Given Coleman will still be easy to move next year and for me has less of an impact on the flames results, I've been wondering lately if it would be better to trade Kadri with the retention spot now. Return is probably bigger, probably improves your draft spot more and I think there's a higher risk of the market for the player changing than with Coleman.

I know trading Coleman with retention is the smarter play but worst case scenario he will still be worth a 2nd plus at the draft and during the season.

Anyway more of a devil's advocate comment than anything but I wouldn't be terribly sad if the flames used the retention slot to move Naz while the market is hot right now, as long as the flames aren't keeping more than 2 and the return is a 1st, prospect, piece.

[TOfan]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I just don't live in a world where I snap to the most negative media comment or just make the most negative assumptions when I have very little idea what is going on, and have recent history to suggest the guy knows what he's doing.

Like why?

Is it fun?

Is it a personal hedge so if things don't work out at least you can say I told you so?

‘They were wrong and i knew it all along’

Right. Sure.

[InternationalVillager]

Originally Posted by BigThief

Knees weak, arms are heavy.

There's vomit on Rhett's sweater already.

[gvitaly]

Originally Posted by TOfan

I find it hard to believe Kadri’s value changed all that much. He played very well last night, do you think his stock jumped because of it?

Saying the Flames should have traded Kadri last year is also lazy. Did he want to be traded? Like it or not, the Flames were trying to make the playoffs. If you’ve followed this organization for any appreciable amount of time you know they are reluctant to trade players who want to be here and have term. Not saying I agree with that, all the time, but there’s considerable evidence to support that.

Also, the hand wringing over what the ‘right time’ to trade a player is from the outside is a complete waste of energy. Flames fans no control over this and there are numerous factors in player management that are real life considerations teams need to constantly evaluate. There’s are reasons why the vast majority of trades are made at deadline and the offseason.

I think Kadri's stock fell for sure, gauging exactly how much it fell is difficult. I think that teams try to project how many good seasons does Naz still have before the wheels fall off. He looked like he found the fountain of youth last year, having a career year being the MVP upfront. Right now he looks like he doesn't add much when the scoring dries up and the going gets tough.

As I mentioned in the other posts, trading Kadri last year might not have been an option, but it's still a comparable for the value he had last year, and likely in the offseason.

My point was that it isn't very difficult to understand where Rhett is coming from. It isn't as though he just made things up in an attempt to make the organization look bad. If he was doing exactly the same thing but praising the Flames, no one would have a problem with it.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by gvitaly

I think Kadri's stock fell for sure, gauging exactly how much it fell is difficult. I think that teams try to project how many good seasons does Naz still have before the wheels fall off. He looked like he found the fountain of youth last year, having a career year being the MVP upfront. Right now he looks like he doesn't add much when the scoring dries up and the going gets tough.

As I mentioned in the other posts, trading Kadri last year might not have been an option, but it's still a comparable for the value he had last year, and likely in the offseason.

My point was that it isn't very difficult to understand where Rhett is coming from. It isn't as though he just made things up in an attempt to make the organization look bad. If he was doing exactly the same thing but praising the Flames, no one would have a problem with it.

I'd agree if it was raised as a concern without a jump off a cliff summary to it.

I'd agree if the guy wasn't negative about pretty much every single thing including not thinking the team was rebuilding when clearly they are.

I'd agree if he wasn't on record for saying Kadri was washed twice in the off season meaning any value now should be an uptick from where he was coming from.

You're picking the wrong horse for a level balance to unbridled optimism.

[PepsiFree]

He’s not making stuff up he’s just literally making stuff up.

I get it. Makes sense.

[Jiri Hrdina]

The thing with Kadri is he needs to be competing for something to be a good player. We saw the same thing in the terrible season with Darryl. As they fell out of things, his play worsened. He's a competitive guy and when he's not competing for something, he's not very good. So for a competing team, that shouldn't matter because they are in the race.

Not saying that's a good thing. You would hope that his effort is consistent. But it seems well established that he's at his best when the stakes are high, and at his worst when they aren't.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by gvitaly

As I mentioned in the other posts, trading Kadri last year might not have been an option, but it's still a comparable for the value he had last year, and likely in the offseason.

It’s not really a comparable if the option wasn’t there. The comparable he missed out on was the Carlo trade. Complain about that one if you want

[sureLoss]

Lots of speculation that the Sharks might flip Kiefer Sherwood. Apparently they are far apart on contract talks.

[gvitaly]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I'd agree if it was raised as a concern without a jump off a cliff summary to it.

I'd agree if the guy wasn't negative about pretty much every single thing including not thinking the team was rebuilding when clearly they are.

I'd agree if he wasn't on record for saying Kadri was washed twice in the off season meaning any value now should be an uptick from where he was coming from.

You're picking the wrong horse for a level balance to unbridled optimism.

I don't agree with a several/many of Rhett's takes, but it's no skin off my back to argue this point for him, or see where I can find common ground.

Personally, I like what Conroy has done as a whole, and I really liked the last couple of trades of Markstrom and Andersson. So it's a wait and see for me, but if the Flames only get a 2nd for Kadri then I would be a bit disappointed.