Flames Will Look To Move a Veteran and Add NHL Calibre Young Players
Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period joined Sirius XM NHL Network Radio Power Play with Steve Kouleas and Jason Strudwick on Wednesday. There, he was asked about the Calgary Flames’ plan, as they have eight picks in the first three rounds. Do they continue the rebuild, or try to add to start getting competitive again?
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Coaching Searches and the Calgary Flames Rebuild Will Continue
Jason Strudwich: “The Calgary Flames fans had a ton of picks. I think they have eight picks in the first three rounds this year, and they’re not the first rebuilding team to ever have that. But do you think maybe they kind of change and get aggressive now to add players to somebody’s line, like you know, current players of those picks or status quo, and keep building through drafting and developing.”
Dave Pagnotta: “Yeah, they’re stacked with that, and they’re a team that was at least initially kind of looking at moving up from the sixth overall spot. I don’t know if that’s necessarily going to happen, but they got eight picks in the first three rounds. They got four second-round picks this year that I’m sure they’re going to look to move to bring in NHL-calibre players.
But young, like this is not this is a scenario where they’re, yes, they’re going through a rebuild, but they have a lot of capital, as you mentioned, and if there’s an opportunity to move out, 1,2,3 of those picks, and bring in young, early 20s NHL caliber players who are on the cusp of becoming, that’s something that I believe they’ll look at now.
NHL Rumors: What is the Calgary Flames Timeline to be Competitive?
Beyond that, they also have a number of players that they’re willing to move, including Blake Coleman and Morgan Frost. Both entering the final year of their deals, set to be UFAs afterwards. So don’t be surprised, not only Blake Coleman, we know about Coleman ties to Dallas and a few others, and I think ahead of the trade deadline there was something in place with Dallas. Had they moved out a player, I believe it might have been Ilya Lyubushkin to make the money work in another deal. It didn’t happen.
He stayed in Calgary, so wouldn’t surprise me if they re-examine that now, because Lyubushkin is available as well, but outside of that, there will be additional interest in Coleman. There will be interest in Morgan Frost. There are other players that they’re willing to listen to as well, up and down this lineup, and we’ll see what other activity they get themselves into.
But if they are moving some of their picks and whatnot, it’s not just trying to recoup additional prospects and things like that. If they can get NHL-calibre young, early 20s-type players, that seems to be the objective.”
NHLRumors.com Note: The goal for GM Craig Conroy is to get this group competitive before the new Scotia Place opens in Calgary. They have traded many assets over the years, including Rasmus Andersson, Nazem Kadri, Noah Hanifin, Nikita Zadorov, and Elias Lindholm, to name a few.
NHL Rumors: How Active Will the Calgary Flames Be?
There were two kinds of moments where Conroy decided to get assets in return for his top players. Now the Flames need to start doing what the Montreal Canadiens do and take a chance on a player or two. They need NHL-calibre difference makers in Calgary. The Flames don’t have that. But they are building something nice in Calgary.
The goal is long-term success in Calgary, not to make the playoffs one year and miss the next. However, expect Blake Coleman to move this offseason.
We had to restart our X account. Please follow @MyNHLRumorsX
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? Rumor roundups and hot topics from around the league. We’re also posting some stuff on Instagram.
If you love our reporting, choose NHLrumors.com as a preferred source on Google.
