BREAKING: Flames Trade Zadorov to the Vancouver Canucks

The first domino dropped Thursday evening. The Calgary Flames traded Nikita Zadorov to the Vancouver Canucks for a fifth-round pick in 2024 and a third-round pick in 2026. Zadorov has one goal and five assists over 21 games this season and has a -6 goal differential at 5v5.

The 6-foot-6, 248-pound defenceman had 14 goals last season and is a heavy physical presence. A couple of weeks ago, Zadorov made headlines when his agent, Dan Milstein, made Zadorov’s trade request public. Multiple reports indicated the incident upset teammates and the organization.

Multiple Flames remain on the NHL trade block.

The fifth-round pick was the pick acquired from Chicago in exchange for Anthony Beauvillier.

The Flames now have $5,111,667 in cap space, per PuckPedia.com.

The Flames released a statement from GM Craig Conroy, “Our hockey operations group works every day to find opportunities that make our team better today and for the future. This trade provides us with important draft assets, cap space, and the opportunity for another one of our young prospects to prove himself in the NHL.”

Zadorov will miss tonight’s showdown against the Vegas Golden Knights and play his first game for the Canucks against his former team at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday.