Calgary Flames Officially Trade Defenseman Noah Hanifin
The Calgary Flames have made some solid moves since Craig Conroy took over as General Manager, and now, he's fulfilled his promise of trading all the teams pending UFA's, officially trading Noah Hanifin with two days before the deadline.
Broken first by Elliotte Friedman on NHL on TNT, Hanifin is staying in the Pacific Division after being traded to the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Vegas Golden Knights. As a part of the deal, the two parties have worked out an extension, with the Flames retaining 50% salary on Hanifin for the remainder of the 2023-24 campaign.
In return, Calgary will officially get defenseman Daniil Miromanov, a first-round pick and a conditional third-round pick that becomes a second-round pick if the Golden Knights win a round in the Stanely Cup Playoffs.
The trade return may seem light, but the Flames find two (likely) high draft picks and a 26-year old that could become a third-pairing defenseman going forward, and if they can ace the picks along with the Vancouver first-round pick and their own, the rebuild may be off to a good start.
This officially ends six years of Noah Hanifin in Calgary, and while it ended with some hard feelings from fans on social media due to his agents involvement in trade negotiations, he was certainly a solid Flame for the majority of that time.
One thing is for certain and that is next Thursday when the Golden Knights visit the Saddledome, there's going to be plenty of emotion from the fans in attendance.