Johnston firstly talks about Hanifin, and says that the direction that will be taken will be decided and made public very soon. Hanifin's agents are going to prevent his final contract draft and since the Flames aren't likely to be the ones to pay him, it seems that he will be hitting the trade market. He says that if the Flames and Hanifin cannot agree on a value, the Flames will use the time before the deadline to vigorously try and find a new destination.
Pierre LeBrun talks about Chris Tanev, and how he seems to be the premier d man for the rental defense market. He says that there are obviously many suitors for Tanev, and other teams who are renting defense may be looking to wait until Tanev is moved as a focus point for what other teams can receive for moving their pieces. This is like what we saw with Elias Lindholm, as the Jets were waiting for him to be moved before making an offer for Sean Monahan.
Tanev's price has been made public by the Flames, and it seems like it will cost a team a second round pick and another asset, whether it be a prospect or a NHL roster player.
Craig Conroy is going to be very busy at the deadline between Hanifin, Tanev, Markstrom and possibly even Kuzmenko. This could shape up to be an amazing deadline for the Flames if they play their cards right, and could highly accelerate their rebuild.
POLL | ||
How many of the Flames' big pieces get moved at the deadline? | ||
Only 1 | 112 | 14.4 % |
2 | 284 | 36.6 % |
3 | 232 | 29.9 % |
4 or more | 149 | 19.2 % |
List of polls |