Welcome back my CapFriendlies! This is a public service announcement, we interrupt your regularly scheduled trade talks (we'll circle back on that), to discuss all things Calgary and potential moves that they may have. What sparked this was the simply when I go to open my iPhone to look at all things puck, I inevitably will see some sort of trade involving either Jacob Markstrom, Noah Hanifin, or some combination of the two of them.

Before the season started, I had Calgary circled as a surprise playoff team and was upset when they were taken in my points pool before I had the chance to snag them. Following a very slow start to begin the season I would look at this club from a cap standpoint and try to figure out just what the club is going to do moving forward. On the one hand I do feel like there's genuinely three or four really good clubs in the western conference, so for the Flames to get into the playoffs and get a decent matchup for them I could see a roadmap for them being a more difficult out.

On the other hand, though, I think right now the message is loud and clear from the Flames, and that's that their open to listening to all trades to begin selling off pieces of their club that they otherwise weren't going to resign and that became evident following the club trading away Elias Lindholm. I get the move but then again, I don't. Could they just have held onto him closer to deadline and up the cost or was a deal that involved Andrei Kuzmenko (no), a prospect, and a 2024 first round pick that odds are will be somewhere in the high 20's really their best offer? So, let's assume we do decide to really sell the farm here, what could a haul back be?

I like to think that no contract is untradeable but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that both Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri's contracts right now are not going to be moved in a deal. Maybe a buyout five or six seasons down the road which could be a nightmare, but for now we have to swallow Huberdeau at $10.5M and Kadri at $7M per season, each with a NMC but to be honest here 9/10 contracts now have a NMC attached to them. If not those two players, then what would a market be for Hanifin? We've hit a point now where Toronto will be involved because that moves the needle, along with New Jersey, but New Jersey right now feels like they're linked to trades with every club in the NHL, some AHL clubs, and maybe even the St. Louis Cardinals. For Hanifin though if the Flames were serious about moving him, I do feel like they control the cards here, why not call Tampa Bay? This is a club that's now going to be in need of a top defensemen with Mikhail Sergachev now out but the issue we run into here would be that Tampa does not have a first round to give back to Calgary this season or even next. However, if I'm the Flames I'd be perfectly content here with getting back two or three young players back to make the money work. Plus, a later round pick and I think we could have a potential deal? Sure, I'd love a first back in a deal, but I think we can make out well here at the deadline, there's more moves to be made.

That leads us to Jacob Markstrom, who still has two years remaining at $6M per season. The problem we run into here is that I do feel like goaltender deals at the deadline are often underwhelming so I'm going to guess that they don't get a first back in return but that's not to say that they can't get later round picks back. If I'm the Flames I also have to be willing to potentially find a third-party club to get into the mix here if either side doesn't (or can't), take on more salary in a trade. I know that I joked about the Devils earlier, but it almost makes too much sense here. With Dougie Hamilton out, that opens LTIR relief for the club, so if I wanted to, I could move Markstrom to New Jersey without having to retain any salary, plus I can get back a pick or two, and maybe even a player. Potentially a young player that gets benched at times for seemingly no reason who has the initials A.H.; just spit balling here.

If these moves are made, along with whatever the club could potentially get back for Chris Tanev and maybe even Yegor Sharangovich (who why not, go back to New Jersey as well), I think the Flames could move forward with a decent crop of younger players with easily somewhere in the neighborhood of $30M cap space as they move into next season. That's also assuming that there's potential here for three picks in the first round of this year's draft, with their own potentially being a high pick.

In hockey with the way the cap is structured, it's always the easiest thought to just "blow it up" so to speak and reset/rebuild but in the case for Calgary this could make sense now as I'd rather trade players now instead of losing the asset if they choose not to resign, and with Markstrom I think the value might be as high as it's going to be right now. With whatever picks I can get back in return, I move forward with two giant contract that sure, I wish I didn't have to navigate around, but I also have pieces in place like Connor Zary, Jakob Pelletier, Martin Pospisil, Cole Schwindt, and quietly on the defensive side of things Oliver Kylington who are all young (or young-ish), and enough cap to keep the talent that I have in house.

*Salary Cap data from CapFriendly.com

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