Calgary Flames Perfect Trade Partner For Capitals?
By Luke Ryan
The Calgary Flames could prove a great trade partner for the Washington Capitals, as suggested recently by Washington sports reporter, Mike Vogel.
He was asked by a user on Twitter if the Calgary Flames would make the perfect trading partner, given the Capitals’ injury woes with Jay Beagle and Brooks Orpik.
Hard to make trades, especially for teams like Caps, up against salary cap. CGY one pt. out of playoffs, need a G. https://t.co/jCkOSEsRvR
— Mike Vogel (@VogsCaps) January 5, 2016
The suggestion was to send Joe Colborne and Kris Russell to the American capital, with the Calgary Flames potentially in the market for a goaltender and some other pieces in return.
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Obviously Braden Holtby is all but untouchable, but Philipp Grubauer could certainly have some appeal for the Calgary Flames.
Given their goaltending situation currently is a solid prospect pool and two older guys anchoring the team between the pipes, the 24-year-old could prove a great pick-up if available.
Whether there is value there for the Calgary Flames if they were to sacrifice Kris Russell and Joe Colborne is the biggest question.
A decent offensive prospect such as Riley Barber plus some sort of draft pick deal could prove enough to bring the Calgary Flames to the table, but obviously this is all hypothetical.
Kris Russell doesn’t have a huge cap hit and by no means is the oldest player on the Calgary Flames blue-line, but if he proved the perfect trade bait for a potential number one goaltender, this deal could prove very cost-effective.
It’d also allow the Calgary Flames to remove Jonas Hiller’s somewhat inflated cap hit from their books come the end of the season when he hits free agency.
Hiller has very much been usurped between the pipes by Karri Ramo this year and it seems unlikely, given his age, that he will be able to win back the Calgary Flames goaltending spot.
If Washington want to talk, there’s certainly some options to be discussed.
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What do you think? Are the Capitals the ideal trading partner to meet current Calgary Flames needs? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.