Calgary Flames: Hypothetical Trade With Every Team in Metropolitan Division

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.

We started with the Atlantic Division yesterday, so let’s keep it in the east and go through the Metropolitan Division today.

Carolina Hurricanes

The Calgary Flames and Carolina Hurricanes have hooked up for some big deals in the past. The Dougie Hamilton, Micheal Ferland, Adam Fox for Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin was one that shook up both teams for the foreseeable future.

The Flames, after flaming out in the postseason again, may be looking to shake things up a little bit. There have been rumours here and three since the Game 6 loss to the Dallas Stars that Calgary may be looking to move out a core piece or two to try and put together a different looking team in the coming years.

One player that found his name in the rumour mill a lot has been Johnny Gaudreau. If the Flames, and it’s a big if, decide to move Gaudreau, it will be to try and bring a little more sandpaper to the lineup. More specifically, a little more grit that has the skill to play at the top end of the roster.

One of the Flames biggest needs this offseason is a top four right defenceman. If they are going to make a trade with the Hurricanes, it has to include a top four defenceman. The Canes were already deep at the position last year before they brought in Sami Vatanen and Brady Skjei. Vatanen is a free agent, but Skjei will stick around.

Could Brett Pesce be the odd many out? He isn’t the flashiest blue liner or the best guy to grab for your fantasy team, but he helps his team win games on a nightly basis. Pesce is just a terrific defender positionally and isn’t afraid to drop down and block a shot or battle for a puck along the boards. He would fit exceptionally well next to Noah Hanifin on the second pairing and would likely be the Flames leader in shorthanded ice time.

Gaudreau probably has a little more value than Pesce, though paying one of the best defensive defencemen in the league just over $4 million for the next four seasons is a pretty good bargain.

Still, the Hurricanes don’t strike me as the type of team looking to add salary when the don’t know how many tickets they’ll be allowed to sell next season. So,, they add Nino Niedereitter to the deal as well to give the Flames another top six forward.

Columbus Blue Jackets

There have been plenty of rumours this offseason of Josh Anderson being available. He is a restricted free agent coming off a miserable season that was ruined by injuries, though Anderson didn’t produce much when he was on the ice either.

He had just one goal and four points in 26 games but he had 27 goals in 2018-19. He is a massive right shot right winger at 6’3 and 222 pounds. The combination of size, decent skating, and a 27 goal season not long ago for the 26 year old is a tantalizing package. But he did score just one goal last season so it is hard to nail down his true value in a trade.

While Anderson’s name has been tied to the Flames the most, he isn’t the player I have my eye on as much. The Columbus Blue Jackets had two great goaltenders last season and have more of them on their way.

Both Elvis Merzlikins and Joonas Korpisalo had good regular seasons and both were exceptional in the postseason. They also both have two years left on their contracts before becoming UFAs, so maybe the Blue Jackets just keep them both for another year. Or maybe they move one if they can get another skilled, gritty forward that fits with their group and a decent pick.

New Jersey Devils

I feel like I am repeating myself a lot, but if the Flames have three things on their wishlist for this offseason, it is a number one goaltender, a top four right defenceman and a top six, right shot, right winger who can score goals.

The Devils can’t help them with a goaltender, and they don’t have many intriguing right defencemen either. Maybe Damon Severson, but he is signed for three more years so they likely keep him. P.K. Subban is well overpaid and has two more years on his contract that no one will be touching.

However, the Devils have a pretty perfect match for the Flames up front. Kyle Palmieri is a right shot right winger with good size who has no problem putting pucks in the net and has been extremely consistent since he arrived in New Jersey.

This season was his fifth in a Devils jersey. He scored 30 goals in his first season with the team. He followed that up with 26 goals, then 24 in just 62 games, then 27 in 74 and this season he had 25 in just 65 contests. That is a 32 goal pace over a full season.

The Devils were awful this season and have three first round picks already in this draft. Palmieri has one year left on his contract, so will he be the next one out the door? If so, the Flames would be a great fit for the sniper.

New York Islanders

The New York Islanders went on a surprising run to the Eastern Conference Final this year. They were propelled by strong goaltending and a suffocating defensive system. Now, they are rumoured to be looking to add some scoring up front but they don’t have a ton of cap space to make such a move.

It would be nice if the Flames could get their hands on one of the Islanders right defencemen. I just don’t see the Islanders moving Ryan Pulock, Scott Mayfield or Noah Dobson right now.

It would be nice if we could just undo the Travis Hamonic trade and get Dobson….

Maybe if Gaudreau was going to the Islanders one of those right D would be on the table, but the Isles have $9 million in cap space and need to re-sign Matthew Barzal, Ryan Pulock and Devon Toews. They need to shed tons of money, but who is taking on Johnny Boychuk or Andrew Ladd? Who’s taking Cal Clutterbuck or Leo Komarov for that matter?

The Isles are going to have to get creative to free up space. One way would be to trade Semyon Varlamov who is fresh off a terrific postseason. This would pave the way for prized rookie Ilya Sorokin to take over the starter’s role. It’s risky, but the Islanders have to move out salary for picks at some point.

Philadelphia Flyers

Once again, we are trying to find a trade between two buyers. The Flames are not going to deal a productive veteran away for a few picks and neither are the Flyers. Calgary needs a goaltender to partner with David Rittich and the Flyers need someone to share the crease with Carter Hart.

Both teams have more depth on the left side of their blue line than the right. The Flyers would like to move Shayne Gostisbehere and the three years left on his contract, but he has struggled for two years now.

The Flyers would also probably like to move out James van Riemsdyk and the $7 million cap hit he carries for three more years, but who’s buying that when he scored 19 goals this season? Hopefully not the Flames.

I really have a hard time finding a smart, player for player trade that makes sense for these two teams. Maybe the Flames just move down a bit in the first round to add another second round pick? A trade like that could work between these two teams and the Flames could use another early pick to help restock the prospect cupboards.

Pittsburgh Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins are in win right now mode. They have Evgeni Malkin under contract for two more years and they need to capitalize on that windown. Malkin and Sidney Crosby are in their mid-30s and while they are still excellent, their best days are definitely behind them.

If the Pens are going to win another Stanley Cup in the next dozen years, it’s going to have to be in 2021 or 2022 because there will be some tough rebuilding years once Malkin and Crosby are gone. So, they are obviously looking to buy.

The Flames are also looking to buy thought, which once again makes it difficult to find a trade match here. Both teams want to add, and both have too many left defencemen and not enough right defenceman.

One thing the Penguins do have is too many goaltenders. The Flames will probably test the free agent market to try and get a proven number one without trading away any assets. But if that doesn’t work out, or if guys like Robin Lehner and Jacob Markstrom don’t want to come to Calgary, the Flames could circle back to the Pens.

Matt Murray has a pair of Stanley Cup wins on his resume but struggled more recently. Could he regain his early career form with the Flames? It would be worth a gamble if nothing materializes in free agency.

Washington Capitals

The Flames are not necessarily sellers, but apparently no one is in the Metropolitan Division either. Trying to find a trade with the Devils was easy because they are terrible and they have a pending UFA who fits a very specific role for the Flames.

Every other team? Looking to improve now (just like the Flames) and also have too many left D ( just like the Flames) and not even right D (like the Flames).

The Capitals pretty much fit that criteria as well. However, with Alex Ovechkin entering the final year of his contract, they might be more desperate than anyone else to try and win another Stanley Cup.

They look like they are going to lose Brendan Dillon and Radko Gudas to free agency. So, they could use a defenceman on either the left or right side to fill that gap. They don’t have a lot of cap space though, so it will be difficult to make the money work in any deal with the Capitals.

The Capitals would definitely be interested in Noah Hanifin and since they want to win before Ovechkin retires, they could be enticed to overpay with a really good prospect. Alexander Alexeyev is a really good prospect. The Caps would have to move some money as well, and so they add Richard Panik who can take on a third line role with, Sam Bennett and Dillon Dube perhaps, and bring sound defensive play and some depth scoring to the lineup.