Trade Winds Are Blowing in Calgary

One of the most intriguing aspects of following the Calgary Flames this 2023-2024 season has been the ongoing will-they-won’t-they, Ross-Rachel aspect to their Trade Deadline approach. Will Flames rookie General Manager Craig Conroy ship his upcoming UFA-status assets in order to retain value within the franchise, or will the 51-year-old executive hold on to players that may play a role in a possible playoff run?  

There has been no shortage of reported talks. Eliotte Friedman contributed to a particularly loaded edition of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast on Dec. 4.

 Toronto swung for both Zadorov and Tanev 

“Toronto definitely tried to get both players.” Friedman said. “There is no question in my mind, and Calgary was definitely in a situation as we talked a little bit about on Friday morning in the pod there where they had kind of notified teams that they wanted to get at least Zadorov done. That they were, you know they were really interested and motivated to do it.”  

It appears there were conflicting timelines between getting a deal for Tanev and a deal for Zadorov done. The 6-foot-6 Russian accelerated his departure following a trade request on Nov. 10 after playing only 15:33 of Calgary’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Maple Leafs. Nikita and his defence partner Nick DeSimone were victims of a shortened bench that left the two off the ice from 3:50 remaining on the clock until the end of the five-minute overtime period.   

Zadorov’s Agent Dan Milstein did his job following the game in communicating Nikita’s request with the media.  

**Breaking News
🚨 📰**
Fresh off a goal and big hit tonight against the @MapleLeafs
, I’m told that D Zadorov through his agent @GoldStarHockey
Dan Milstein has requested a trade from the @NHLFlames
. #HockeyTwitter
pic.twitter.com/TRZqwcgyd5

It should be no surprise that: 

The Calgary dressing room was ready to move on from the Zadorov situation 

“The players had kind of indicated I think they wanted that particular chapter closed, and Calgary wanted to move on.” Friedman reflected.

Following Zadorov’s trade request, Backlund was reported by Friedman on Nov. 18 to have asked the room to “end the noise”.  

“From what I understand, Backlund spoke to some of the players, I don’t know if it was in a group or one-on-one, but he said, ‘we have to end the noise’. There are too many distractions around the team. He just said, ”Enough of that.” We have to concentrate on playing. If you don’t want to be here, let the general manager know, and we’ll figure it out. But for as long as you’re here, no more noise, we have to play.” 

Zadorov spoke to the media following a 4-1 loss on Nov. 11 relating that he understands that it wasn’t fair to do that to his teammates. “So, I feel like, that’s not a proper situation for a team right now in this regard. I would be pissed if I would be them, if I see that from my teammate. I hope that they understand one day, for sure.” 

Vancouver was the only team willing to match Calgary’s demands 

“And Vancouver was a motivated buyer. They cleared the cap room. And also, you know the thing that really appealed to Calgary was that Vancouver didn’t need to retain any money. So, I think the Flames let it be known “Hey, it’s coming down. So, if you really want to be involved in the Zadorov sweepstakes, you’d better let us know.” And what happened was Toronto tried to get both players. And here’s what it came down to. Toronto needed Calgary to retain. Unlike Vancouver, they needed Calgary to retain…” 

The extra cap room has been beneficial to the Flames already. Defencemen Jordan Oesterle and Ilya Solovyov have been recalled, journeyman blue liner Mark Pysyk has been signed, and, as of Dec. 11, the Flames still have $2,391,667 in cap space to play around with.  

Time will tell how valuable that cap space will become, but reducing demand down to one potential buyer may be why Calgary General Manager Craig Conroy has seen the return for “Big Z” receive so much criticism, the return heading back ended up being a 2024 fifth round pick and a 2026 third round pick.  

Toronto is still in on Tanev 

“Now, Tanev. I do think Toronto will continue to try Tanev. I think the other factor here that was a thing, is that you know Calgary, as far as I can tell, didn’t give anybody permission to talk to Zadorov, but I think Calgary suspects that if Toronto traded for either player, if not both, they would be able to re-sign them.“ 

“Toronto is definitely looking for D. The search for D is on. I heard a right hand shot. I heard preference is for an edgier or more physical player.” 

Demand is seemingly still high across the League for a top-four defenceman. Calgary still has Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin as potential UFAs to dangle on the market. With Timothy Liljegren, John Klingberg, and Mark Giordano out of the lineup due to injury, the Leafs are front runners due to circumstance. Other previously reported potential buyers include Arizona, Boston, Vancouver, San Jose, Edmonton, and New Jersey.  

The Toronto offer may not have been an impressive return 

“The Flames might have been wondering, “OK, if we trade a rental or two rentals there and the player re-signs”, because we think that Toronto will have the ability and the desire to do it, and the player will want to go there? I just think that they felt that that could make the deal look even worse in the long run. I don’t think it was a primary concern, but I think it was a thing. “ 

Acquisition and Extension would be an early chapter in GM Brad Treliving’s playbook, if he ever published one. Whether it’s Jonathan Huberdeau, Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin, or MacKenzie Weegar, you can still see Treliving’s fingerprints on the Flames roster in that form. 

The choice of words “even worse” are not ideal. It’s possible that the potential return from Toronto wasn’t particularly appealing.  

Tanev’s contract is an obstacle still 

“Anyway, Tanev, you know Jeff, I’m getting some mixed messages. I had a couple people call me on Sunday who said that A.) Tanev will take longer to trade because he’s making more money than Zadorov. At this point in time there was only one team that could take all of Zadorov’s salary that wanted him and that was Vancouver. So, since Tanev makes more, it’s even more complicated.”  

The question here is: Is Calgary’s ownership group willing to pay for retention?  

Trade deadline deals involving retention have become commonplace in the NHL. Some years, a fourth-round pick was all it took to even involve a third party to retain an additional 50% of the player’s remaining salary.  

Throughout the history of the Calgary Flames franchise, there is only one instance of the Calgary Flames retaining salary from one of their assets in a trade. An April 11, 2021, swap sending backup goaltender David Rittich to Toronto for a 2022 third round pick. Rittich’s annual average value of $2,750,000 was cut to 1,375,000 to make the trade more palatable for the Leafs.

The acquired third round pick was eventually sent to Chicago in exchange for Nikita Zadorov.   

Another tangible obstacle to a trade is a Modified-NTC in Chris Tanev’s contract, which provides a ten-team no trade list.  

Calgary still may extend Tanev  

“And you know, I had a couple people that think Calgary makes another run to sign him.” 

The 33-year-old is reported to be seeking a term greater than two seasons. It is likely that his annual average salary of $4,500,000 will see a reduction if a new deal is signed.  

The window to acquire Anthony Duclair is closing 

Marek: “I would imagine that Mike Grier would have no trouble moving Anthony Duclair.” 

Friedman: “Yes, and earlier in the year I thought Duclair was going to extend there. I really did. I heard rumours that they were gonna talk about that.” 

Initially speculated as a cheap option to bring in, San Jose Sharks winger and former linemate of Jonathan Huberdeau, Anthony Duclair, has been heating up of late. The speedy winger from Pointe-Claire, Quebec has five points in his last five contests.

Following a season where he missed time after getting surgery on his Achilles tendon, Duclair was shipped by the Florida Panthers as a cap dump to the San Jose Sharks over the summer in exchange for depth center Steve Lorentz and 2025 fifth round pick. The 5-foot-11 former 30 goal scorer is set to become a UFA on July 1st, 2024, if he doesn’t pen a contract extension.  

The 31 year old play driver was involved in a nasty collision on Sunday with Keegan Kolesar during a 5-4 shootout loss to the Las Vegas Golden Knights. With production going up and his injury status once again raising questions, Duclair’s annual cap hit of $3,000,000 may be too problematic of a target for Craig Conroy and the Flames.

Chris Tanev remains a top-of-the-list target for Treliving

Despite the potentially low-end offer, Friedman strongly thinks that Tanev remains their number one target. From a Dec. 8 episode of 32 Thoughts: “My Prediction is this. As long as there is the opportunity to get Tanev, I think he’s their number one choice. Treliving knows him, he’s signed him, he knows him better than anyone else who is out there. And at the end of the day if you’re gonna place a bet, you’re always gonna give edge to the person that you know.”