With the trade deadline every season, there are always trade rumors. And this season is no different for the Calgary Flames. It’ll even involve a player who has already been talked about in the off-season.
The Calgary Flames this season keep getting in and out of a playoff spot. Right now, they’re in the second wildcard spot in the Western conference. However, the Los Angeles Kings have two games on hand, so really, the Flames could be out again after tonight.
When asked about trade deadline approaching, Flames GM Brad Treliving has said that these next few weeks are crucial because they will ultimately decide what will happen for trade deadline in 11 days. The Flames right now have won five of their last seven, going back to before the All-Star break. However, six of those games were incredible games for the team.
In one of the losses against the New York Rangers, they still battled hard and played a full 60 minutes which is all we can ask for. Unfortunately, they still came up short. However, if they can remain in a playoff position by trade deadline and hopefully be in a more comfortable spot than they’re currently in, we probably won’t be seeing any drastic changes.
Related Story: Flames Daily - GM Brad Treliving talks about trade deadline
And that includes trading for veteran goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.
Off-season all over again
During the off-season, there were talks constantly and rumors involving the Calgary Flames trading for either Marc-Andre Fleury of the Pittsburgh Penguins or Ben Bishop of the Tampa Bay Lightning. They ended up not going any of those routes.
On a draft day trade, the Flames acquired Brian Elliott from the St. Louis Blues and they signed free agent Chad Johnson.
Related Story: Chad Johnson wins Elliott/Bishop/Fleury debate
It was later revealed by Eric Francis that Penguins GM Jim Rutherford was asking for the Flames sixth overall pick at the 2016 draft in exchange for Fleury. Well, that sixth pick ended up being Matthew Tkachuk.
Tkachuk is now second on the Flames in points and has definitely made a big impact this season for the team. And seeing how Fleury’s season isn’t going how he would have hoped, with the Pens choosing to go with young Matt Murray over Fleury, it’s a good thing the Flames kept Tkachuk.
But now, Fleury’s name is in the same conversations that include the Flames.
Via Sportsnet:
"“I still hear they’re kicking tires on Marc-Andre Fleury,” Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos said on Hockey Central at Noon Thursday."
What about the Flames current goaltenders?
The Calgary Flames already have Brian Elliott and Chad Johnson. Now, these two have been quite the story so far this season. First, we have both goalies who weren’t giving the Flames the consistency they needed. Then November rolled around and Brian Elliott, who was brought as the Flames primary goaltender, still wasn’t performing up to expectations.
So thank goodness for Chad Johnson. He completely stepped up when one, nobody expected him to and two, when everyone needed him to. At one point in an eight game span from mid-November until the start of December, he had three shutouts.
At one point, he even had better numbers than Bishop, Fleury, and Elliott. He’s also from Calgary, so he became somewhat of that hometown hero he has always dreamed of being.
Now let’s skip to January.
Both goaltenders in the New Year have not been performing as well as the Flames needed. They were both immensely struggling in January. And then the game right before the All-Star break game against the Ottawa Senators where the Flames won in overtime and Brian Elliott was spectacular. So the Flames decided to employ the win-and-start method for the team.
Related Story: What's going on with Chad Johnson?
Basically, if you win, you play the next game. If you played an excellent game but the team still loses, you don’t get to start the next game.
And this has done wonders for Brian Elliott. Since and including that game against the Sens, he’s won four of the five games he has started. But one of the games was against the New York Rangers where the Flames still played a great game, but unfortunately still came up short. He has a save percentage of 0.925 and GAA of 2.22 since that.
From the start of the season until that game against the Sens, his record was 8-12-2 and his sv% was 0.891 and his GAA was 2.92. So, much improvement since that. And as long as he keeps winning, he’ll be playing.
So how is Fleury doing this season?
Like I mentioned above, Fleury also hasn’t had the season he was hoping for. He hasn’t been doing horrible by any means, but Matt Murray has been taking the reigns this season.
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Murray this season is 21-6-3, has a sv% of 0.927 and GAA of 2.26. Just his record alone is absolutely incredible, especially for a young goaltender who was a rookie last season and helped the Penguins win the Stanley Cup.
Fleury however this season is 15-7-5, has a sv% of 0.906 and GAA of 3.16. So like I said, not completely horrible, but also not quite Stanley Cup contender quality.
With Fleury being mainly a backup now to Murray, there are talks about if he’ll be traded or not. Ideally, he’d like to stay with the Pens and go to the playoffs with them again this season. He has already won two cups with this team that he has played his entire career with them, so it’d be quite bitter-sweet if he were to leave.
Now let’s get into why he won’t come here by trade deadline.
Why Fleury won’t come to Calgary at trade deadline
Like I mentioned, the Calgary Flames currently have two goaltenders. Both of the goalies are one-way contracts as well. So if the Flames were to bring in Fleury, either they would have to trade their goaltender or that would be a bit of a crowd.
Now, both goalies on the Flames will be UFA’s at the end of this season. Ideally, they’d like to acquire a goaltender before the off-season rolls around, but then there’s the decision of who they would expose for the expansion draft.
Fleury’s contract goes until the 2018-2019 season and it’s a big contract. $5.75 million salary. That would also be a problem for this team. With two big contracts they just made for this season with Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau, there could be this cap problem.
And the Flames already have experience with being in bad contracts with washed up players. Cough cough Dennis Wideman cough cough. Is Fleury a washed up player, or could he still provide some helpful veteran experience to this team?
We now also have the problem with if the Pens even want to trade Fleury.
According to Sportsnet, Pens GM Jim Rutherford is open to dealing Fleury but is also considering keeping him for support during the Penguins’ Cup defence. And who’s to say that Rutherford won’t want a high pick again or one of the Flames great players that ideally, they’d want to keep.
For the last couple of seasons, Flames GM Brad Treliving has been very good at negotiating. But I’m not sure how much he could negotiate for a player who has just won a Stanley Cup. And Treliving has also said that these days leading up to the trade deadline will ultimately decide what the Flames decide to do. If Elliott continues taking the win-and-start method to heart and continues bailing the Flames out when they need him to, there may not even be any trades.
I do also strongly believe that the Flames won’t be making any drastic trades. Nothing that’ll be talked about for the next few days on every hockey news outlet. Nothing like trading a Jarome Iginla, or trading a captain for a captain.
What are your thoughts? Could the Flames use a veteran goaltender like Marc-Andre Fleury, or is he starting to get a little washed up? With his salary, could the Flames even afford a player like Fleury right now if they also keep Elliott? That’s over $8 million just in the crease. But the Pens may also retain some of Fleury’s contract. It’s a long process.
Next: Is there hostility between Gaudreau and Gulutzan?
Lots of long and confusing factors that affect this could-be trade. But for right now, I don’t think Fleury will come before trade deadline. The Flames may try to acquire him in the off-season, but for right now, they won’t be.