Calgary Flames: Hypothetical Flames Trade With Every Atlantic Division Team

The Calgary Flames will be looking to upgrade their roster this offseason. We found a trade with every Atlantic Division team.

The Calgary Flames have put together some solid regular seasons lately but they haven’t been able to find much postseason success. In order to change that up, they are going to need to add some reinforcements to their lineup.

The team has brought in some young talent that is playing big roles. Matthew Tkachuk, Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin, Dillon Dube and Andrew Mangiapane are all 24 years old or younger and are carving out important roles for themselves.

However, they also have some really important veterans that are starting to run out of time in Calgary.

Mark Giordano has been the team’s best defenceman for years but he is 36 years old and has just two years left on his contract. Johnny Gaudreau has been the team’s offensive catalyst for many years but he has just two years left on his deal as well. Will he re-sign in 2022 or will he be traded before he even hits the open market? Mikael Backlund has played an important two-way role for a long time but he is 31 years old, making you wonder how many effective years he has left.

So, this team could look a lot different in a few years. If they are going to try to win with this core, they are going to have to pull it off in the next two years. Otherwise, Giordano and possibly Gaudreau could be gone and they will be hard to replace.

The only problem is, this team has proved over the past several years to be not good enough to go on a deep run. If they want to advance deep into the 2021 postseason, they are going to have to add some key pieces.

First of all, they need a goaltender. Cam Talbot is a free agent, so a new number one or at least 1A with David Rittich is imperative. They are losing Travis Hamonic and T.J. Brodie to free agency as well so a defenceman to play top four minutes on the right side is needed. Also, a right shot right winger with size that can play in the top six and put the puck in the net would be fantastic.

It’s a tall order to check all of those boxes, so we decided to help general manager Brad Treliving out. Over the next few days, we are going to come up with a trade the Flames could consider with every other team in the league.

Let’s start with the Atlantic Division.

Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins were among the best teams in the NHL the past few seasons. They still have much of their core together heading into next season, except for their left defencemen. While the exceptional line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak is locked up for two more seasons, Torey Krug and Zdeno Chara will be free agents next week.

So, the Bruins could certainly use a left defenceman who can help right now. The Flames are pretty deep at that position with Mark Giordano, Noah Hanifin, Juuso Valimaki and Oliver Kylington as well as freshly signed prospects Connor Mackey and Colton Poolman.

If the Flames were to part with a guy like Hanifin, they’d still have solid depth at the position, and could fill another need with the trade.

The Bruins have been rumoured to be looking at signing Taylor Hall. If so, a player that could be on the way out is Jake DeBrusk. He is a gritty, fast, left winger who can score goals. The Flames already have Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau at left wing, but DeBrusk could transition to the right side.

Buffalo Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres have not been good in a long time. They have an elite centre and defenceman to build around in Jack Eichel and Rasmus Dahlin but it hasn’t come together. What can they do to take the next step forward?

They are pretty stocked with good defencemen, but need better goaltending and could use more help up front so Eichel doesn’t have to be the only player that is bringing offence on a consistent basis.

This trade doesn’t immediately fill that need for the Sabres, but it gives them options moving forward. They add a mid-first round pick that they can use on a forward or use to trade for a forward on another team.

The Flames are set to lose Brodie and Hamonic as free agents so they need someone who can eat minutes on the right side. The Sabres have Rasmus Ristolainen, Henri Jokiharju, Brandon Montour and Colin Miller on the right side.

Montour is a restricted free agent who is probably looking for $5 million or so on a long-term contract extension. Calgary can certainly afford that and could use a two-way defender like Montour to play on their second pairing.

Detroit Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings are a putrid hockey team. They were the worst team we have seen in many years last season. The only team they could beat was the Montreal Canadiens. They went 4-0-0 against the Habs last season. They won 13 of their other 67 games.

That’s brutal. They don’t have many veterans to trade away for help either. Maybe the Flames want Luke Glendening for a depth role? Darren Helm? Robby Fabbri would be a nice add, but the Red Wings just re-signed him and he is only 24 years old so why would they move him?

This is going to have to be a pretty boring trade. Detroit isn’t giving up Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi or Anthony Mantha and they have no reason to move any of their prospects or young roster players either.

So, the Flames send them a super late pick for Adam Erne. He is a big winger who put up 20 points in 65 games with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2018-19, but had just five points in 56 games with the Red Wings this season.

He could probably put up 20 or so points from the 4th line for the Flames next season. He’d be an upgrade on Zac Rinaldo, if nothing else.

Florida Panthers

The Panthers are a bit of an odd team. They have spent big money in free agency, mostly to try and fix their defence and goaltending, but they still allow far, far too many scoring chances and goals against.

They had a nice top six, but are about to lose Evgeni Dadonov and Mike Hoffman to free agency. Erik Haula, who they traded Vincent Trocheck for, for some reason, is also going to hit the open market. Any of those three would be nice targets for the Flames, but there is no need in trading for a pending free agent.

A fit isn’t easy to find between these two teams but the Panthers have one intriguing prospect. Henrik Borgstrom was a first round pick in 2016. He went to the University of Denver after that and looked terrific. He scored 95 points in 77 games during his only two seasons of college hockey.

The big, Finnish centre looked good in his first pro season, but took a step back this season. He scored just 23 points in 49 AHL games after putting up 22 points in 24 games the years previous. There were rumours midseason that he was unhappy and wanted to return to Finland rather than stay in the Panthers organization.

The 6’3″ and 200 pound centre is a restricted free agent. If the player and team can’t agree to a contract, maybe Borgstrom gets his wish and is moved. the return wouldn’t be huge if he is threatening to go back to Finland.

Johannes Kinvall just signed with the Flames, but he scored 40 points in 51 games in the SHL last season. That is pretty impressive for a 23 year old defenceman. Impressive enough to land Borgstrom?

Montreal Canadiens

The Canadiens are in a weird spot right now. They were the 24th ranked team in the NHL standings last season. They have several key unrestricted free agents in a year. So far this offseason, instead of trading them and rebuilding, they added Jake Allen and Joel Edmundson in trades and re-signed 32 year old Jeff Petry a year before he can become a free agent.

So, they are going for it with basically the same team as last year aside from a better backup goalie and another big, veteran defenceman?

The Habs have a lot of big, tough defencemen but not many that can skate the puck and carry it out of their own end. Ben Chiarot, Shea Weber and Joel Edmundson aren’t going end to end any time soon.

One of the Flames lower priority needs is a third pairing right defenceman. With Erik Gustafsson, Brodie, Hamonic, Michael Stone and Derek Forbort all becoming free agents, they could use some NHL ready depth, especially on the right side. They could also use a bigger guy with some sandpaper for that role.

So, they come to an agreement here that sends a better skater who is prone to lapses defensively for a more steady, physical presence who shoots right.

Tampa Bay Lightning

The Tampa Bay Lightning have an excellent roster. They might have to move a few pieces off that roster to make room under the salary cap though. The flat cap caused by the global pandemic might hurt the Lightning  more than any other team.

Of course, they have that recent Stanley Cup to help ease the pain.

Their top priorities right now are to find new contracts for RFAs Anthony Cirelli and Mikhail Sergachev. Fitting in their huge raises is going to be troublesome. So, they have to move a few more players who either make good money already, or also need a new contract.

One player that could be on the move is Yanni Gourde. He has some no-trade protection, but he already won and played a depth role with guys like Mitchell Stephens, Patrick Maroon, Carter Verhaege and Cedric Paquette all season.

How does playing on a line with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan sound? Pretty good? Yeah, I thought so.

Eric Cernak is another interesting target. He is a RFA looking for a big raise as well. He is a huge right shot defender who played top four minutes for the Lightning on their way to winning the Stanley Cup. He can chew up minutes at even strength and take on a big role on the penalty kill. He’d be the ideal partner for Noah Hanifin on the second pairing and at just 23 years old, he could stay there for a long time.

It would cost a lot to get both of these players. We are talking about a top six winger and a top four forward in one fell swoop. The Lightning would need cheap, young players or draft picks to be enticed into this deal.

Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs could look to move some depth pieces like Alex Kerfoot, Andreas Johnsson or Ilya Mikheyev. If they target a player like Alex Pietrangelo in free agency, maybe they are enticed into moving William Nylander.

If they want to go off the board a little bit, maybe they trade Frederik Andersen.

Andersen has been great for the Maple Leafs since he arrived in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks and has been remarkably consistent his entire career. He has been one of the league’s busiest goaltenders the past few seasons, but wouldn’t need to be in Calgary.

He would need to be re-signed in a year’s time. The Flames could look to extend him immediately, as the 30 year old has just one year left on his contract with a $5 million cap hit. He would give the Flames a more reliable number one option than they have had in the past few years.

Also, he would be playing behind a team that actually plays some defence and on a team with a solid backup. This would be completely foreign to him, coming from Toronto, but it would be great for him in the long run.

It would cost a lot, but it has been a long time since the Flames had a goaltender you can count on for 55-60 starts. Of course, with a solid backup in David Rittich, Andersen could start 45-50 games and be more fresh and ready for the postseason than he ever was in a Maple Leafs jersey.