2020/2021 Trade Speculation and Rumours

[Macho0978]

I’m on the Eichel bandwagon only because I know the Flames won’t rebuild. My concern is they probably not going to get Eichel either.

This years playoffs are very much depth teams beating top heavy teams. Tampa has it all but NYI beat Boston Vegas beat Colorado and Montreal comes out of North over oilers and leafs. We are going all in on depth!

[TheIronMaiden]

Offensive depth has been the Flames biggest weakness since 2015.

[TOfan]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

Offensive depth has been the Flames biggest weakness since 2015.

2015?

Weren’t they the second highest scoring team in the league in 2019? Who did they have for depth in 2015? Ferland? Colbourne? Stajan?.....

[blankall]

Originally Posted by TOfan

Whether or not Eichel wants to come to Calgary is secondary, I think. He has all but asked for a trade and has no trade protection at this point in time. He has to accept the Sabres are going to make the best deal for the Sabres. He is not is a position to say 'send me to New York, or Boston, or Philadelphia'.

That said, I could see Calgary being a good spot for him. There is an upside to the team, solid ownership, management, and many of the players here (at least publicly) say they like it here. Probably doesn't hurt that there are a handful of American players on the roster making solid contributions. Calgary may not be his first choice, but it probably isn't his last.

Eichel has already more or less forced a trade from one team, if he doesn't want to be in Calgary, it seems like a bad move to trade for him, as he's going to force his way out at some point. The return when he does so likely to be considerably lower than what the Flames pay.

Calgary is about as far as you can get away from his hometown, which is North of Boston. That being said, yes, Calgary already has several American players who seem to enjoy it here. I get the notion that the Calgary lifestyle isn't all that different than the lifestyle in New England, outside of the major cities in New England. Some players seem to enjoy the notoriety of being an NHL player in a place where the NHL is biggest show in town. There's obviously a lot of reasons why players want to/don't want to play in certain places, and I'm 100% speculating on what Eichel would want.

[Flames_F.T.W]

Calgary may not be Eichel's #1 choice but I have to think he'd be thrilled to go to just about any other team at this point

[mile]

Originally Posted by blankall

Eichel has already more or less forced a trade from one team, if he doesn't want to be in Calgary, it seems like a bad move to trade for him, as he's going to force his way out at some point. The return when he does so likely to be considerably lower than what the Flames pay.

Calgary is about as far as you can get away from his hometown, which is North of Boston. That being said, yes, Calgary already has several American players who seem to enjoy it here. I get the notion that the Calgary lifestyle isn't all that different than the lifestyle in New England, outside of the major cities in New England. Some players seem to enjoy the notoriety of being an NHL player in a place where the NHL is biggest show in town. There's obviously a lot of reasons why players want to/don't want to play in certain places, and I'm 100% speculating on what Eichel would want.

Eichel and Hanifin are both from that area and are friends, I think Hanifin could sell him on Calgary. I’d bet he’d also feel better about a trade here after talking to Sutter and Gaudreau.

[FlamesAddiction]

I just don't see the benefit of selling off the players that would directly benefit from playing with Eichel, in order to acquire Eichel.

He's a $10 million+ player that will produce like a $5 million player without talented wingers playing next to him. This was the problem in Buffalo and we'd just be transferring the problem to us.

[Toonage]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I just don't see the benefit of selling off the players that would directly benefit from playing with Eichel, in order to acquire Eichel.

He's a $10 million+ player that will produce like a $5 million player without talented wingers playing next to him. This was the problem in Buffalo and we'd just be transferring the problem to us.

This is what I've been saying for what feels like months. You don't get Eichel from Buffalo just to recreate Buffalo for him here.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I just don't see the benefit of selling off the players that would directly benefit from playing with Eichel, in order to acquire Eichel.

He's a $10 million+ player that will produce like a $5 million player without talented wingers playing next to him. This was the problem in Buffalo and we'd just be transferring the problem to us.

Eichel has never produced like a $5 million player. If you exclude his rookie year, he's a PPG player. He's also a power forward who is defensively aware. Eichel is in every way a legit #1 centre in this league. As soon as the Covid economic effects wear off $10 million/year will be the standard for a #1 centre.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

He's a $10 million+ player that will produce like a $5 million player without talented wingers playing next to him. This was the problem in Buffalo and we'd just be transferring the problem to us.

96 points in his last 89 games. How many $5 million players are expected to get around 90 points in a season?

[TOfan]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I just don't see the benefit of selling off the players that would directly benefit from playing with Eichel, in order to acquire Eichel.

He's a $10 million+ player that will produce like a $5 million player without talented wingers playing next to him. This was the problem in Buffalo and we'd just be transferring the problem to us.

This seems wildly inaccurate. Eichel is widely regarded as a top tier C in the league at 25 years old.

Apply the same logic to some of our own players. What JG worth? 3.5 million?

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by blankall

Eichel has never produced like a $5 million player. If you exclude his rookie year, he's a PPG player. He's also a power forward who is defensively aware. Eichel is in every way a legit #1 centre in this league. As soon as the Covid economic effects wear off $10 million/year will be the standard for a #1 centre.

It already was pre-covid for top-end centres.

To buy free agent years from established NHL centres costs an absolute premium.

Since Draisaitl's "early buy" contract where they were paying for future production and bought a few free agent years, look at the deals that have been signed:

- Barzal (3 RFA years): $7M.
- Backstrom (UFA years only + later parts of his career): $9.2M
- Aho (4 RFA years, 1 UFA year): $8.46M
- Hayes (7 UFA years): $7.14M
- Nelson (6 UFA years): $6M
- Matthews (4 RFA years, 1 UFA year): $11.64M
- Seguin (8 UFA years): $9.85M
- Tavares (7 UFA years): $11M
- Couture (8 UFA years): $8M
- Eichel (4 RFA years, 4 UFA years): $10M
- Draisaitl (4 RFA years, 4 UFA years): $8.5M

Top-end centres get paid $10+ for deals that include UFA years.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I guess for me it comes down to this:
- #1 centres rarely come on the market
- Young ones are even more rare
- What's at risk for the Flames? If this doesn't work are they in a worse situation? Perhaps but perhaps then it drags them into an actual proper re-build.

I don't think Eichel solves everything but in my view he's a top 10 talent. So if you can buy low on him, depending on price, do it. It's not like the current roster is doing anything.

At bare minimum it would inject some badly needed excitement. And an Eichel/McDavid interdivisional rivalry could be pretty neat.

I am in total agreement of this. The excitement alone from actually acquiring a proven young #1 centre makes it worth it. And if it doesn't work out, rather than a bubble team in mediocrity, it may mean we actually bite the bullet and tank for a few years and go through a proper rebuild. I mean, people do realize Flames can also trade Eichel in the future if it doesn't work out right? I just don't see Eichel's skills declining enough for the Flames not to get a haul in the future if he's traded.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Flames_F.T.W

Calgary may not be Eichel's #1 choice but I have to think he'd be thrilled to go to just about any other team at this point

Eichel still HATES that he was picked 2nd to McDavid. I want a guy that wants to give it his all when we have to play the dumpster team up North.

Jack is about as big of a wildcard as any player we would acquire. He’s played in Buffalo. That’s it. He can potentially explode with a much better supporting cast and never-before-seen coaching by Sutter, who has done a pretty good job getting the most out of players that are buying in.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

I am in total agreement of this. The excitement alone from actually acquiring a proven young #1 centre makes it worth it. And if it doesn't work out, rather than a bubble team in mediocrity, it may mean we actually bite the bullet and tank for a few years and go through a proper rebuild. I mean, people do realize Flames can also trade Eichel in the future if it doesn't work out right? I just don't see Eichel's skills declining enough for the Flames not to get a haul in the future if he's traded.

Yeah, this is the whole thing for me. Flames fans have had a pretty bad team to cheer for since February 2019. Everything since then has been rolling downhill since then from a results perspective.

Time to generate some excitement and start turning things around, and acquiring the first true top-end centre since Joe Nieuwendyk left in 1995 would be a heck of way to do so. The freaking stories of Eichel Vs. McDavid in the Battle of Alberta would be fantastic entertainment.

...toss in a Taylor Hall signing alongside acquiring Eichel? Oh, it'd be beautiful.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

Yeah, this is the whole thing for me. Flames fans have had a pretty bad team to cheer for since February 2019. Everything since then has been rolling downhill since then from a results perspective.

Time to generate some excitement and start turning things around, and acquiring the first true top-end centre since Joe Nieuwendyk left in 1995 would be a heck of way to do so. The freaking stories of Eichel Vs. McDavid in the Battle of Alberta would be fantastic entertainment.

...toss in a Taylor Hall signing alongside acquiring Eichel? Oh, it'd be beautiful.

Did you not watch Buffalo this season?

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

Did you not watch Buffalo this season?

I watched a lot of Buffalo this season.

Enough to know that EVERYTHING went wrong there, and no one there should really be judged on what went on this past year.

...but yeah, maybe your duos are Gaudreau-Eichel and Hall-Lindholm.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

Eichel still HATES that he was picked 2nd to McDavid. I want a guy that wants to give it his all when we have to play the dumpster team up North.

Jack is about as big of a wildcard as any player we would acquire. He’s played in Buffalo. That’s it. He can potentially explode with a much better supporting cast and never-before-seen coaching by Sutter, who has done a pretty good job getting the most out of players that are buying in.

Is this true?

Eichel hates being drafted second to the guy who just got over 100 points in 56 games so badly that he, an American wants to move to a city on NTC lists league wide just to show him up?

Either this story or the player - one of them sounds more than just a little crazy

[howard_the_duck]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I guess for me it comes down to this:
- #1 centres rarely come on the market
- Young ones are even more rare
- What's at risk for the Flames? If this doesn't work are they in a worse situation? Perhaps but perhaps then it drags them into an actual proper re-build.

I don't think Eichel solves everything but in my view he's a top 10 talent. So if you can buy low on him, depending on price, do it. It's not like the current roster is doing anything.

At bare minimum it would inject some badly needed excitement. And an Eichel/McDavid interdivisional rivalry could be pretty neat.

The biggest risk for me is deepening our prospect deficit, making the inevitable rebuild that much harder to crawl out of. I don't think we can afford to be making futures deals when we are in the bottom 5 in the league in futures as it stands.

It's awfully tempting because it would undoubtedly add some excitement, and he's a young core player, but the cost is too prohibitive for the Flames to rightfully be considering, IMO.

The team may not rebuild now, but if we keep things at current course, there's a good likelihood this will bottom out and we'll have a more solid foundation of prospects to build from if we have the good fortune of getting a top 3 pick as the franchise piece.

[blankall]

Have Eichel and Gaudreau ever played on the same team? Obviously, I mean either before turning pro or in international tournaments.