Flames hoping to get young roster players in return for pending UFAs: report
The Calgary Flames may be sellers in the near future, but they aren’t interested in a full-fledged rebuild.
With the Flames’ slow start to the 2023-24 season, general manager Craig Conroy has reportedly been shopping several of his pending UFAs, including Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev, Nikita Zadorov, and Elias Lindholm. That said, in a recent report from CHEK TV’s Rick Dhaliwal, Conroy hopes to bring back young roster players who can make an immediate impact on their roster.
“The [Vancouver] Canucks keep pushing [Conor] Garland and [Anthony] Beauvillier on the Flames, but that’s not going to cut it. Not even a second rounder is going to cut it right now.” Dhaliwal said.
“The Flames want a top prospect. They are looking for a young prospect who can play in their lineup right now. Look at the Tyler Toffoli trade the Flames made [this summer]. They got a 25-year-old forward, Yegor Sharangovich. He came in, he’s playing right away.”
“The Flames are looking for a young prospect who can play in their lineup right now..”@DhaliwalSports on the #Canucks interest in Chris Tanev and if anything changes with the Soucy injury.https://t.co/h4e2SKM7eJ pic.twitter.com/XRrI7659G4
— Donnie & Dhali (@DonnieandDhali) November 15, 2023
As Dhaliwal alluded to, the Flames chose to ship their leading scorer from the 2022-23 season in Toffoli to the New Jersey Devils this summer, with Sharangovich and a third-round pick coming back in return. Based on that move paired with Dhaliwal’s comments, it seems that the Flames are indeed looking to retool rather than go through an entire rebuild.
At this time, Conroy is in a good spot for leverage, given that there is plenty of time between now and the 2024 trade deadline. That said, as the weeks and months creep by, he may be forced to lessen his demands in order to find trading partners for the players mentioned above. The good news for Flames fans is that all four players are quite valuable, meaning any potential returns should be relatively significant.
- You might also like:
- Flames have several prospects producing in the AHL