Calgary Flames Need To Determine Hudler's Trade Value

To say that Jiri Hudler has had an off year for the Calgary Flames would be a huge understatement. Despite all this, the Czech forward still has lots of trade value.

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He has disappeared more often than David Copperfield, he has looked slower than Cory Sarich with a piano on his back, but worst of all he has simply looked disinterested in too many games this year.

Despite all this, however, the Czech forward still has lots of trade value. I’m not kidding, he really does. He also seems to be heating up at the right time, with 5 points in his last 5 games for the Calgary Flames and managing a plus 6 during that span.

Don’t forget either, he was the Calgary Flames top forward last year scoring 76 points in 78 games en route to winning the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy. More impressive than that was his emergence as a mentor for the Calgary Flames younger players, being the Yoda to Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau’s Luke Skywalker.

Without him the Calgary Flames wouldn’t have made the playoffs last season, and two of their top young players in Monahan and Gaudreau certainly wouldn’t have enjoyed the success that they did last year.

But this year is different. Hudler has managed to score only 28 points in 44 games this year, and is completely devoid of the offensive magic he displayed for the Calgary Flames last season. As expected, his success last year might be an outlier.

He hasn’t averaged anything close to a point per game in any season in the NHL except last season, with his closest being 54 points in 75 games in 2013-14. Hudler has been able to operate along the 0.5 to 0.7 point per game mark around his career making him a solid secondary scorer, but not the superstar we saw last year. This consistency might help the Calgary Flames in marketing him as a solid second tier player.

This consistent production, coupled with the fact that Hudler has a reasonable contract of 4 million and is a pending UFA should make him attractive to the right team.

Teams that could potentially want Hudler on deadline day include Anaheim, Minnesota, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Nashville, Pittsburgh, and Detroit. All these teams are in the bottom half for goals scored, and all of them are in the thick of the playoff race.

Detroit knows what it has in Hudler as they had him for parts of seven seasons. Nashville will be feeling the pressure to make the playoffs after a huge blockbuster trade, probably wanting to prove they made the right call with the Johansen deal.

As always St. Louis and LA are buyers at the deadline, and both will likely look to add another top-six forward. Minnesota, Pittsburgh, and Anaheim have all played inconsistently, so these next couple weeks will be more indicative of their needs and trade status.

Trading Hudler to a divisional rival shouldn’t be a concern, as he likely is a pure rental player moving forward. The Calgary Flames did not sign him to a no-movement clause, and thusly have full control over trade options. The only thing the Calgary Flames should be worried about is getting the best price for Hudler.

The only thing the Calgary Flames should be worried about is getting the best price for Hudler.

We have all seen those head-scratching deals that GM’s desperate to add a winning piece make, such as the Martin Erat trade. David Poile (Nashville’s G.M.) somehow convinced George McPhee (Washington’s than GM) to acquire an aging veteran scorer who averaged around the same points per game as Hudler, for a dynamic young player.

McPhee, quite inexplicably gave up Filip Forsberg for Erat and a depth player. A few years later, Forsberg is one of the premier young players in the NHL, and Erat is riding buses in the KHL.

Point is, good deals are there to be made, but a lot of Hudler’s value will be predicated by the other players made available, so who else is out there?

The top-tier of players would include Andrew Ladd, Loui Eriksson, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jorden Eberle, and Jonathan Drouin; of whom a couple would actually look good with a longer-term Calgary Flames re-build.

Players like Eriksson and Ladd are both pieces that their respective teams would like to re-sign, while Edmonton likely will hold on to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Eberle for as long as possible to get the right trade. Drouin is interesting because he is simply chilling at home waiting to be traded, and has no chance of playing for the Lightning again.

Once these players futures are decided, teams that miss out on them might look to the Calgary Flames for consolation in the form of trading for Jiri Hudler.

The real question is, what is he worth?

The Calgary Flames would either ask for a young player or draft pick, as trading for another veteran wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense.

In terms of young players, a guy like Anthony Mantha from Detroit is likely too rich for Detroit to do, but a prospect like Joe Hicketts or Teemu Pulkkinen might be closer in the range of value for Jiri Hudler.

In terms of draft picks, a late first round pick is probably the highest you can get, and if someone offers that you say yes, and then break into a happy dance. Expect a second round pick to be offered around as well.

A lot of Jiri Hudler’s trade value is determined by factors such as team performance’s before the deadline, as well as some of the bigger trade dominoes falling. But somehow someway the Calgary Flames must find a way to turn the flaming trash can of a season that Hudler’s been having, into a solid asset.

Next: Calgary Flames Up-And-Down Form Ruining Their Season

Get to work Brad Treliving!

What can the Flames get for Jiri Hudler? Play armchair GM and let us know what you would do in the comment section below.

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