Trade proposals between the Calgary Flames and Toronto Maple Leafs are dominating CapFriendly’s Trade Machine. A cocktail fusing potent ingredients such as familiarity between general managers Craig Conroy of the Flames and former Flames GM Brad Treliving (now in Toronto), characteristic on-brand madness between the ears of Leafs fans, and the fact that Calgary holds several trade chips have likely sparked armchair GMs into action.
Just for fun, let’s take a look at what fans are cooking up between the Calgary Flames and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Tanev for Minten and a pick
Calgary Flames receive:
- Fraser Minten
- 2024 3rd round pick (originally of the New York Islanders)
Toronto Maple Leafs receive:
- Christopher Tanev
Fraser Minten was recently involved in a blockbuster trade within the WHL that saw him move from the Kamloops Blazers to the Saskatoon Blades, bringing his total to three teams he’s played for already this season. Yes, three — the Vancouver, BC product initially made the Toronto Maple Leafs roster out of camp and skated in four NHL contests before being sent back down to bake at the junior level a little longer.
Despite starting his junior career all the way back in the 2019-20 season, Minten is still only 19 years old. He was drafted by the Leafs in the second round of the 2022 NHL Draft at 38th overall. He’s a six-foot-two left-shot forward (centre) who’s collected points everywhere he’s played (minus a goose egg in his four games with the Leafs), including 31 goals and 67 points with the Blazers last season.
From Elite Prospects on Minten:
"Shooting and physicality are Minten’s defining skills. A powerful one-timer, a smooth curl-and-drag wrister, and two- touch wristers make him equally effective shooting in space as he is under pressure."
In the case of this purely hypothetical trade, Minten would be the centrepiece in the return for the Flames, whereas the pick would be a throw-in – whoever they nab in the third round this summer would have slim chances of making it to the NHL, but as we know players like Andrew Mangiapane (sixth round, 166th overall) can defy the odds.
Assuming Treliving put this offer on the table, whether or not Conroy would pull trigger depends on the market (what else is available), but if this was the best offer in exchange for Chris Tanev, I – now assuming the armchair GM role – would strongly consider taking the deal. Tanev’s on an expiring contract, has the tendency to miss games due to injury, and Fraser Minten would be a welcome addition to a young forward stable of Matt Coronato, Connor Zary, Jakob Pelletier, Samuel Honzek, and others.
I get the feeling better offers might become available in exchange for Tanev to a contending team, though…
William Nylander to the Flames for Jonathan Huberdeau with 50% retained
Calgary Flames receive:
- William Nylander
Toronto Maple Leafs receive:
- Jonathan Huberdeau (50% retained)
There are a million reasons I’m not going to spend much time on this hypothetical trade, but I’ll offer a few points that speak to why it’s not going to happen:
- Nylander has been the Leafs best player this season. They’re not going to trade him before the deadline if they have Cup aspirations.
- With seven more years after this one remaining on Huberdeau’s contract, I don’t see Murray Edwards as the type of owner to willingly pay $36.75 million (plus this season’s remaining cash) for a player skating for the Maple Leafs.
- Nylander is due a new contract in the summertime and will be looking for a pile of dough.
Columbus plays middle-man in a Tanev deal
Calgary Flames receive:
- Nick Abruzzese
- 2025 3rd round pick (TOR)
- 2026 1st round pick (TOR)
Toronto Maple Leafs receive:
- Christopher Tanev (66% retained)
Columbus Blue Jackets receive:
- 2024 4th round pick (TOR)
There are some cap gymnastics happening here: Calgary would retain 33 percent of Tanev’s salary, then Columbus would retain 50 percent of the remaining 66 percent in exchange for a Leafs pick before sending Tanev to Toronto, leaving Treliving responsible for only 33 percent of Tanev’s remaining salary.
From a Flames perspective, I like the inclusion of a first round selection, but the attractiveness drops slightly when that’s pushed all the way out to 2026. I’d probably take the aforementioned Minten deal with the Leafs over this one. For more info on Nick Abruzzese, my colleague Nathan Smith recently wrote a piece on a prospective Abruzzese deal between the Flames and Leafs.
Zadorov and Tanev (again) to the Leafs for picks and prospects
Calgary Flames receive:
- Nick Abruzzese
- Topi Niemelä
- Fraser Minten
- 2024 1st round pick (TOR)
Toronto Maple Leafs receive:
- Christopher Tanev (50% retained)
- Nikita Zadorov (50% retained)
There are so many pieces involved in this deal that, as someone who’s not a trade analysis genius, it’s hard to determine whether or not it would be attractive from Conroy’s point of view.
To me, the primary return pieces are Minten and the first round selection in the next NHL Draft. Abruzzese and Niemelä (2020 third round Leafs’ pick and an undersized defenceman currently in the AHL) are throw-ins, so I’m tempted to come to the conclusion that Minten and a first wouldn’t quite get this deal done for me, especially with the Flames retaining 50% on each of Tanev and Zadorov.
I don’t know about you, but I’m thrilled to see what Conroy does with his big four pending UFAs… Would you be down for any of the trades with the Leafs discussed in this article?