Trade Deadline Recap: Good, Bad Or Indifferent?

Trade Deadline Recap

Well, the NHL’s Trade Deadline for 2017-18 has come and gone and the Flames made two moves on the day. Calgary traded a 7th round pick in 2019 to Ottawa for Nick Shore (16 points in 55 games) and they claimed Chris Stewart (13 points in 47 games) off waivers from the Minnesota Wild. I’ll let you catch your breath and then we’ll dig in.

On the surface these are far some sexy moves, but what did you expect the Flames to do at the deadline? Calgary is void of draft picks to deal and outside of dealing young prospects for a rental player, they don’t exactly have a stable of trade-able NHL assets. Yes, we all know that everyone wants Troy Brouwer, Matt Stajan, Michael Stone and Curtis Lazar traded. That’s all well and good, but this is the real life NHL, not XBox. NONE of those players are valuable anywhere outside of Calgary (and that’s even debatable) and none of their contracts are appealing.

The Flames did what probably makes the most sense and they added a few bodies to try and shore up their bottom six. Stewart will fill that gritty role that the 4th line needs and he can provide “some” “scoring” punch to that line. Nick Shore will probably fill out a similar role as well, leaving the Flames with some decisions to make with personnel.

Calgary’s top 2 lines are set and when Micheal Ferland comes back from whatever is ailing him, the Flames 3rd line should be good as well. What that leaves is the 4th line with a mix of Curtis Lazar, Troy Brouwer, Nick Shore, Chris Stewart, Matt Stajan, Kris Versteeg (when is ready to play) and the Stockton Player Dujour. How any of these players fit in is yet to be seen, but you have to think at least Shore will see some significant playing time seeing the Flames traded for him.

Calgary now has a gluttony of 4th line players and it will give kids like Andrew Mangiapane a chance to stay in Stockton and get some more seasoning and experience. What it doesn’t do is the give the Flames that blockbuster name to put them over the top. But let’s face it, no matter who the Flames brought in at the deadline, that player wasn’t punching their ticket to the Stanley Cup Finals. Calgary is in and out of the playoffs on a daily basis and no player was going to make them that much better.

Brad Treliving brought in 2 players he thought could help the Flames out and hopefully continue their playoff push. He didn’t give up anyone on the NHL roster, nor did he mortgage the future by dealing away quality prospects. The Flames GM clearly looked at this team and knew that making a big deal would have been good headlines for a few days, but in the end it wasn’t going to put the Flames over the top.

What are your thoughts on the Flames acquisitions today? Vote in our poll below and feel free to comment!

by Mark Parkinson