Flames forced to make trade shortly!

They might even have to buy out a contract…

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Flames forced to make trade shortly!
Zuma Press

While some of you may be enjoying some time off this summer, it won’t be the case for the Calgary Flames… 

The team has six restricted free agents to re-sign, including Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, and David Rittich and team insider Darren Haynes of The Athletic estimates the cost could push the Flames’ salary-cap payroll to $87 million. 

This means Calgary will have no other choice to make a trade this summer to shed some cap space and this could mean that one talented player will be out the door. Hayes suggests a trade of either T.J. Brodie, Michael Frolik or Travis Hamonic could help the Flames free up enough cap space to hold on to their free agents. 

There is also the possibility of buying out Michael Stone’s contract. 

“Our cap situation, with people to sign, we’ve got to continue to monitor and look at,” GM Brad Treliving conceded to Haynes. 

No kidding… 

Here is Haynes’ take on a more than likely upcoming trade: 

“On this topic, the three most often-referenced names, each of whom are on expiring deals, are defenceman TJ Brodie ($4.65 million), right winger Michael Frolik ($4.3 million) and defenceman Travis Hamonic ($3.85 million). However, as we’ve learned so far this offseason, payroll space is a precious commodity in itself, so making such a trade won’t be easy. Additionally, in dealing away one or two of those contracts, the cap relief coming back will also be a notable portion of the return.
Of course, these are good players, too. For all Brodie’s imperfections, we’re still talking about a 28-yard-old defenceman who can routinely log close to 25 minutes per night and create offence. Can Treliving find a home for at least one of those players and if so, what kind of draft pick(s) can he fetch in return considering he wouldn’t want to bring salary back as that defeats the purpose of making a move, unless it’s part of a bigger deal (Pierre LeBrun mentioned in his latest notebook that a trade was in the works between the Flames and Leafs involving Nazem Kadri, before talks broke down and Toronto ended up dealing with Colorado instead).”

As for Stone, it could help out the Flames in the end: at the penalty of $1.17-million that would count against the cap in 2020-21, the club can save $2.33-million this year if they were to buy out Stone, per Cap Friendly. 

Stay tuned…