The Calgary Flames are sitting 26th in the NHL standings with just five wins in 15 games and are finding it harder and harder to hold on to their players, especially the pending free agents. After defenseman Nikita Zadorov expressed the desire to be traded out of Calgary, rumours surfaced that he may not be the only one with pending unrestricted free agents like Chris Tanev, Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin wondering if they should leave the Flames.
The latter especially made his intentions known to management last month as Pierre LeBrun revealed on Tuesday night’s edition of Insider Trading on TSN that the blue liner had turned down a huge offer from the Flames.
“Hanifin almost signed an extension here last month, close to $6 million, but he decided he wanted to wait and think about things and now that ship has sailed. The Flames are listening on these guys but they’ve got no hurry, they have until March 8 for the trade deadline to seek a return on these players.”
Back in September, Hanifin had expressed that he’d be willing to sign an extension with the Flames, though we all could understand if he changed his mind following the unexpectedly bad season start in Calgary…
The blue liner has suited up for all Flames’ games so far this season, collecting two goals and six points.
It was supposed to be all different for the Flames in 2023-24 after underperforming last year and missing the playoffs by two points after finishing in first place in the Pacific Division. Changes were made in the summer: head coach Darryl Sutter and general manager Brad Treliving were fired in the offseason and replaced with Ryan Huska and Craig Conroy, but it looks like more will need to happen for the Flames to be a contender.
Or for guys like Hanifin, Tanev and Lindholm to feel like they want to stick around…
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