Calgary Flames trade Morgan Klimchuk to Maple Leafs for Andrew Nielsen

The Calgary Flames have traded forward Morgan Klimchuk to the Toronto Maple Leafs for defenceman Andrew Nielsen.

Blockbuster trade alert! The Calgary Flames and Toronto Maple Leafs announced somewhat randomly on a Tuesday evening that they have swapped prospects. The Flames sent over forward Morgan Klimchuk and the Leafs sent back defenceman Andrew Nielsen.

Klimchuk was drafted by the Flames in the first round of the 2013 NHL draft. He played in one game in the NHL (last season) and in 203 games in the AHL, all with the Flames’ affiliate, he has 44 goals and 100 points.

Klimchuk was the last piece remaining in the Jarome Iginla trade from 2013. Ben Hanowski and Kenny Agostino were the other two pieces, both of which are also now gone. Looks like it’s all up to you now, Andrew Nielsen.

And now, Nielsen is also the lone piece remaining from Kent Nilsson, if you want to go way back.

For those who don’t know about Andrew Nielsen, he was drafted by the Leafs in 2015 in the third round. He’s a slow, stay-at-home type of defenceman that you don’t normally see around the league often, and he most likely won’t make it to the Flames roster. He had a breakout year two years ago with the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the WHL that earned him some recognition in the Leafs prospect pool.

Since then, he has struggled to stay consistently on the Toronto Marlies blueline, due to all the new prospects there outplaying the 6’4″ defenceman. In 152 games in the AHL, Nielsen has 20 goals, 70 points, and 237 PIM. He’ll be assigned to Stockton right away and it will just be another left-handed defenceman in the Flames’ system.

Like Nielsen, it’s also unlikely Klimchuk will get a chance with up with the Leafs but you never know, I guess. He definitely won’t this season.