2023/2024 Trade Rumors and Speculation Thread

[AFireInside]

I don't really have an issue with signing Hanifin. He's young enough that it makes sense.

The odds of the Flames drafting a player that ends up being better than Hanifin are low anyway. Trade Lindholm since he doesn't want to be here.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by butterfly

Their names can just as well be Ben Jones and Ilya Solovyov. What are we trying to do here?

I suppose I am freaking out if Francis really said that.

If they sign any UFA the only one I'd be ok with is Hanifin. So if it happens, it happens. He's young and they can trade him in a few years anyways.

They're going to trade Lindholm and Tanev for sure imo. Maybe Markstrom as well. Maybe more. Should get some decent assets from those trades.

They need to stock up on picks and basically hope for the best. I don't see this team being bad enough to draft in the top 2 or 3, so load up on quantity and hope like heck you draft a stud or three in there to make the team a contender.

Zary, Coronato, Pospisil, Pelletier, Honzek, Wolf, Poirier, etc + whatever they get in trades this season, plus whoever they draft with their picks over the next 2 or 3 years.........I'm pretty optimistic about the future. Going to be fun to see what happens. Just hope they make the right choices at the draft, that's the key.

[butterfly]

Originally Posted by AFireInside

I don't really have an issue with signing Hanifin. He's young enough that it makes sense.

The odds of the Flames drafting a player that ends up being better than Hanifin are low anyway. Trade Lindholm since he doesn't want to be here.

And Hanifin does? Wants the agent to be allowed to talk to other teams, finds out the true value, and now he wants to be in Calgary?

Amazing how draft picks busting is a real risk, but doling out 8 year contracts to 27-year-olds isn’t. Nothing to see here; repeat the five magic words: the cap is going up.

[Calgary4LIfe]

I am still hoping it is nothing but posturing on the Hanifin front - "Fine, you don't want to meet our price, we will just keep him."


Missed the Pens' veterans thing - another important name on that list would be Gary Roberts - on my my all-time favourite Flames and players in general. He oozed leadership, especially in the back-half of his career.


This is how I look at the team with respect to who to keep and trade:
Definitely need to be traded:
Lindholm
Hanifin
Tanev
These three players will bring back a lot of value in assets that are needed to have as many bullets as possible in order to build a solid core.


One of these should be traded:
Markstrom - Vladar
You don't trade both unless you can get another solid backup/1B guy to help Wolf in the first couple of seasons in the NHL. You do not want to feed the Wolf to the wolves.


OBO (or best offer):
Kadri - sorry, but he quit on the team last year in a visibly ugly way. The team is likely to start becoming competitive again before his contract runs out. How good will he be at age 35? 36? If you can remove the risk for free now, do it. Huberdeau is 10.5. You don't want 17.5 in dead cap space in 2026 and 2027. You may not be able to sign your own players, or have to pull out another 'Tkachuk bridge' because too much money was on the table.

Greer - I love Greer, but guys like him are always available for free. Any pick for him at the deadline is a bonus.
Oesterle - Calgary is desperately thin on defence, and it is about to get real ugly there. I don't think I want Oesterle re-signed next season.

Huberdeau - Yeah, it isn't going to happen. Just in case someone offers 'future considerations', or even demands a sweetener that doesn't hurt so much, I put him here. He has DEFINITELY looked much better of late in every way, but that's 7.5 years of a high dollar risk that is, so far, easily considered the worst deal in hockey right now.


I demand overpayment/ Not in a hurry to unload this player:

Backlund - Captain, and the THE guy you want your high pick entering the NHL playing with.
Coleman - ditto as above (except the captain part)
Andersson - great leader, and you have to have some defence
Weegar - 8 years is a risk, but I have very low worries about him living up to this deal even in the last couple of years - I see him out-performing his deal
Sharangovich - Skill guy to play with other skill guys, hopefully other players pick up on things like his shootout skills, and he has a year after this one. If Flames can't re-sign him to what they think a fair number looks like, trade him next off-season.
Mangiapane - I am not as down on Mangiapane as others are - and I think next deadline is the time to unload him if you don't want him anyway
Dube - Terrible season, and finally being a healthy scratch after being the most noticeable player game-in, game-out for a while now for all the wrong reasons. I don't think anyone wants him for what he is showing himself to be this season, but if someone wants to pay for 18 goal Dube, then I will take it. Otherwise, I prefer to renegotiate a one-year extension at a lower deal than his QO, and if it doesn't work out, sell him then.





I think this organization needs as many picks as possible. This is a very good drafting team, and they will make the most out of those picks. Even so, a big percentage of picks will fail, but some won't. The Flames need to draft their next core. They have support players drafted, and some players who may work themselves into that future core (like Zary!), but they need to find those high-end franchise type of players.



To put an exclamation point on this, think of this way; what is wrong with the Flames? They are a fairly good team that is playing well, and have depth in most positions (with defence suddenly being a bit light). The issue I have with them is a lack of top-end talent. Why hold onto a bunch of guys that can get you some further picks? You aren't going to grab a Gaudreau every time, but guys like Gaudreau, TJ Brodie, Ferland, etc., can all be huge difference makers in playoffs series. Plus guys like Pointe and Kucherov - Lightning win squat all without those two in their last rebuild, and they weren't high picks (to say the least).


Sign guys in the off-season to help shoulder the load.



As far as 'rebuilds don't work just look at Ottawa' go - rebuilds work about as effectively as 'win now' modes do for organizations that are poorly run. The new owner in Ottawa is trying to fix that organization. It was from ownership-down a huge mess. Edmonton is a mess (and are only relevant out of sheer lottery luck). Look at what the Penguins did. Chicago's rebuild 1.0 sucked, but once that organization decided to be better run (well, ignoring the huge elephant in the room there), they went on to win cups. Nobody is untouchable, and accumulate as many pics as you can. if you are able to sell-off too many of your good veterans, sign a few more in the off-season. These good vets are SECONDARY to what you are trying to do - acquire top-end talent. These vets have nobody to mentor if you can't acquire the young top-end talent. Bad teams do things poorly, period, whatever direction they decide to go in. Good teams do things well, regardless of direction. We all know that Detroit and Boston will be competing for cups in short order.



I think this is a really good drafting and development team. I think Conroy is going to be the type of GM that will bring long-term stability to this organization, and having Iginla here is only going to help. I think Huska is going to be the long-term coach this team has been needing for a long while, and I am glad that he was the assistant here for a while learning under a few different types. Huska can be the Flames' Jon Cooper. The new building is coming, and with that, this team will make more money, and become more stable.


I think Calgary is a team that was, for the most part, poorly run for the last 30 years. It is starting to be a better-run organization. This was one of the best-run organizations in the mid to late 80's. Then the owners did what they had to do to cut costs and keep this team in Calgary. Ken King came in and did significant work in making this a better-run team, and so did Darryl Sutter for a while. Feaster came in and, well, created a bit of a situation. Burke then came in and got the Flames back into respectability. Treliving mostly kept things respectable, even though I do think he made too many mistakes. From Sutter's tenure as GM through Conroy's tenure, there has been one consistent thing in Calgary - IMPROVEMENT in the drafting and development side of things. Yes, it started getting expanded under Sutter, and it continues to this day. Hopefully with Maloney, Nonis, Pascal, Iginla, Conroy, Button, and whomever else gets brought-into this organization, they can continue improving on different areas. However, the strongest aspect of this franchise is their ability to draft and develop, and I think it just makes sense to leverage this area right now.



I am looking forward to this rebuild/retool/reset - I look forward to this change.

[AFireInside]

Originally Posted by butterfly

And Hanifin does? Wants the agent to be allowed to talk to other teams, finds out the true value, and now he wants to be in Calgary?

Amazing how draft picks busting is a real risk, but doling out 8 year contracts to 27-year-olds isn’t. Nothing to see here; repeat the five magic words: the cap is going up.

I don't think there's a huge risk in giving a 27 year old an 8 year contract. If Hanifin has come back and wants to sign then he wants to be here. That extra year is a bonus right? It doesn't mean he's being offered way less, it might be the same, but with Calgary he can lock in another year.



I'd rather trade him, but if they re-sign him I won't be upset about it. A draft picks busting is the norm, not a risk. I mean that in terms of where someone is drafted, they may make the nhl buy most of the time don't reach the potential that was projected.


Unless the return for Hanifin is great they are better off signing him.

[butterfly]

Originally Posted by AFireInside

I don't think there's a huge risk in giving a 27 year old an 8 year contract. If Hanifin has come back and wants to sign then he wants to be here. That extra year is a bonus right? It doesn't mean he's being offered way less, it might be the same, but with Calgary he can lock in another year.



I'd rather trade him, but if they re-sign him I won't be upset about it. A draft picks busting is the norm, not a risk. I mean that in terms of where someone is drafted, they may make the nhl buy most of the time don't reach the potential that was projected.


Unless the return for Hanifin is great they are better off signing him.

The only party that extra year is good for is Hanifin. He doesn’t have to care how good he is at 34 because he’s guaranteed huge money at 35.

Why would we want that? The only thing I’m interested in is prime years and the Flames are in no situation to be gambling about it. Players like to sell their prime years with strings attached - you have to pay for their decline years. 8 years, no way. Let someone else take that short sighted risk.

[dammage79]

Conny was just on the fan, missed the first bit and tuned in just as he was talking about trying to do things and it takes patience.

Had some praise for Coronato, said if he had room he'd be up but he needs top 9 ice time and PP time.

He's excited for Pelts and Rooney and Shilly to get going.

Likes the situation with the farm kids where they're all busting theor humps because they know any one of them can be the next call up.

Pretty much a short mid season state of the union address.

[Royle9]

Signing Hanifin to that contract now would be the absolute most Flames thing to do and set us back even further. Invest in a guy who wanted out and still have no #1 d-man nor a PP quarterback.

So I fully expect it to happen.

[dammage79]

Dreger I guess is saying it's crickets on the Tanev and Hanifin front. Seeing as he's an Oiler Croney, a surprise scratch is immenent

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by Royle9

Signing Hanifin to that contract now would be the absolute most Flames thing to do and set us back even further. Invest in a guy who wanted out and still have no #1 d-man nor a PP quarterback.

So I fully expect it to happen.

If we don’t sign him we should have top 5 picks for the next 5 years so that would set us up nicely. Hard to imagine that defence leading to the team being good anytime soon. Would almost force them to sign Rasmus in two years to a big deal if they were coming off 3 desolate years.

[CalgarySames]

Looking around here, I think I'm in the minority regarding Zegras. He's still young and shows phenomenal offensive upside. I do understand that his defense is lacking, but he's also playing on a Ducks team that is clearly in the midst of a rebuild. The Flames youth movement is shaping up nicely, and adding Zegras to a top line with Huberdeau and Coronato/Sharangovich really appeals to me. The league is moving more and more towards high skill players like Zegras. And with how the rest of our roster fills out, I think the Flames could make it work and have a skilled top line! I'd still say trade Lindholm for sure, but with talk of renegotiations with Hanafin sparking back up, and a potential Kylington return?

We still have pieces coming up both offensively and defensively. Pelletier, Coronato come to mind as having legit potential. I also like Kuznetsov and Solovyov. Solovyov might only ever be a third pairing defenceman but he puts the body on the line and could be a real staple guy on the back end who can even be trusted on the PK.

One way or the other the Flames need to take a year or two of development. This whole mandate of competing for a playoff spot doesn't interest me nearly as much as taking a couple years to develop our young talent and reshape the team culture. Long term goals shouldn't be making the playoffs, it should be competing for a cup! (Yes I know you compete for a cup by making the playoffs, it's just felt more like scraping by to make the playoffs has been this teams mantra for too long)

[PuckSlap]

I don't want to rush things and make a big mistake. But I'm also concerned about not doing anything and making another mistake by trying to make a push for the playoffs, with our current lineup; falling short and getting absolutely sweet #### all for a draft pick, and continue even deeper into mediocrity.

It's weird how it's crickets.. Wonder if it's going to be the latter.

Sent from my SM-S918W using Tapatalk

[Toonage]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Dreger I guess is saying it's crickets on the Tanev and Hanifin front. Seeing as he's an Oiler Croney, a surprise scratch is immenent

You've been around long enough to know Dreger & Nonis are tight. Its how Dregs got all his Leaf info years ago.

[traptor]

If we re-sign hanifin to 8 years and only trade the other two UFAs, we have another 5 years (atleast) mediocrity coming.

Doubling down on an aging group that hasn't proven anything.

Kadri
Huberdeau
Weegar
Hanifin
Backlund
Coleman
Markstrom
Andersson (probably re-signed)

That's our core for the next 5 years.

Pelletier, coronato, honzek and zary are all good players. Are they going to be that much better then lindholm and tanev. Is this group of prospects enough to push the rest of that aging core into contention status? Doubt it. None of them project as bonfaide stars. We may get one legit 1st liner out of that group.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by traptor

Francis confidently saying he thinks hanifin is signed over next 2-3 weeks 7.5x8.

Hopefully he's wrong and it's posturing

Wasn't it Francis who was confidently saying in the first place that Hanifin wanted out to play in the States? I'm pretty sure it was because I remember posting I had heard no such thing, quite the opposite in fact. I have always got the impression that Hanifin is ok with staying but is just as open to being dealt to a contender as long as he gets the contract he wants.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by traptor

If we re-sign hanifin to 8 years and only trade the other two UFAs, we have another 5 years (atleast) mediocrity coming.

Doubling down on an aging group that hasn't proven anything.

Kadri
Huberdeau
Weegar
Hanifin
Backlund
Coleman
Markstrom
Andersson (probably re-signed)

That's our core for the next 5 years.

Pelletier, coronato, honzek and zary are all good players. Are they going to be that much better then lindholm and tanev. Is this group of prospects enough to push the rest of that aging core into contention status? Doubt it. None of them project as bonfaide stars. We may get one legit 1st liner out of that group.

Take Hanifin out of that and we're still mediocre for 5 years.
Buckle up because this rebuild will take time, especially when the club has reluctantly fell into it & already missed opportunities.

[Flames Fan, Ph.D.]

Originally Posted by butterfly

Their names can just as well be Ben Jones and Ilya Solovyov. What are we trying to do here?

I suppose I am freaking out if Francis really said that.

What do we accomplish by putting Jones out there?

Y’all so desperate to lose games and make my favourite team unwatchable. There’s a non-zero chance that you make this franchise extinct with that philosophy.

[butterfly]

Originally Posted by Flames Fan, Ph.D.

What do we accomplish by putting Jones out there?

Y’all so desperate to lose games and make my favourite team unwatchable. There’s a non-zero chance that you make this franchise extinct with that philosophy.

Okay. Keep rolling out Hanifin for 8 more years I guess. Pay $60 million and offer a NMC. Then it will be watchable while we see 4 more coaches rotate through.

Who are we excited about? Zary, Pelletier, Honzek, Poirier, Suniev, Morin…notice a pattern here?

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

Wasn't it Francis who was confidently saying in the first place that Hanifin wanted out to play in the States? I'm pretty sure it was because I remember posting I had heard no such thing, quite the opposite in fact. I have always got the impression that Hanifin is ok with staying but is just as open to being dealt to a contender as long as he gets the contract he wants.

I think he was, but I also believe that things can change and it's okay for a reporter to report on the new situation if things have changed. *shrugs*

[Flames Fan, Ph.D.]

Originally Posted by butterfly

Okay. Keep rolling out Hanifin for 8 more years I guess. Pay $60 million and offer a NMC. Then it will be watchable while we see 4 more coaches rotate through.

Who are we excited about? Zary, Pelletier, Honzek, Poirier, Suniev, Morin…notice a pattern here?

You forgot jones.