Are Flames one-stop shopping with Canadiens at NHL trade deadline?

As the Calgary Flames enjoyed a day off on Super Bowl Sunday, GM Brad Treliving likely didn’t have the same luxury.

The NHL trade deadline is still a month away but most of the work leading up to it is being done right now. The hockey world is all over the Darryl Sutter/Tyler Toffoli connection. Toffoli to the Calgary Flames is right near the top of the NHL trade rumour rankings at the moment.

It makes sense.

Toffoli is a right-handed shot who plays the right side – a spot the Flames have been looking to reinforce for a decade or more.

Sutter coached him with the Los Angeles Kings, winning the Stanley Cup together in 2014 when Toffoli was a rookie. He has term left on his deal, at a reasonable salary. The money gets a bit tricky looking beyond this season, and for any substantial contract, salary would have to go the other way.

But money aside, are the Calgary Flames looking at one-stop shopping with the Montreal Canadiens? Reports suggest the Flames have already made some sort of offer for defenceman Ben Chiarot.

Steep asking price for Chiarot

The Flames back end could definitely use some depth, but the asking price of a first-round pick is extreme, and the team’s defencemen have been really good in Calgary lately.

Depth is crucial, and having Chiarot there to supplant Nikita Zadorov or Erik Gudbranson when things aren’t going well would be a fine addition.

But you’re not paying anything close to that asking price if you believe the player is going to be in the bottom pairing.

So the notion the Flames have made a pitch could mean the team is protecting itself from a regression from the talented Oliver Kylington.

Not sure how the players would respond to seeing Kylington bumped by Chiarot given how meaningful he has been to that group this season as one of its biggest surprises.

Just another thing to consider the always fragile chemistry experiment of an NHL locker-room. But it’s the GM’s job to give his coach the best options on the roster to work with.

If they work something out with the Canadiens, one or both of Sean Monahan and Dillon Dube could be gone, along with other significant assets in the form of picks and prospects.

The way the Calgary Flames have been playing, they might want to wait until closer to the deadline.