The NHL’s trade deadline is the final chance for teams to make roster tweaks in advance of the stretch drive and the Stanley Cup playoffs. As such, teams end up making a lot of big moves in the run-up to this date.

They also make some weird moves.

In advance of the 2025 edition, we looked back through decades of past Calgary Flames trade deadline action to find these three very odd stories that emerged from past trade deadlines.

A Finnish blueliner, Eloranta was the subject of a bidding war during the summer of 1981, with Cliff Fletcher eventually landing him for the Flames. However, his first season, 1981-82, saw him experience some growing pains and bounce between the Flames and their minor-league club, the Central League’s Oklahoma City Stars. He had two points in 19 games with the Flames.

The Flames decided to part ways with Eloranta prior to the 1982 trade deadline, albeit with a twist: they traded him to the St. Louis Blues for future considerations. However, the Blues had until June 1 to decide if they wanted to keep him; if they did, they would send the Flames a draft choice, otherwise they had to return him.

Eloranta played 12 games with the Blues and had seven points. But the Blues opted to return him to the Flames, likely due to the potential draft pick cost – in the archival materials we found, the exact price was never specified. And so, Eloranta was traded back to the Flames on June 2 for future considerations. He was, essentially, conditionally traded… for himself.

Bryan Deasley was the Flames’ first-round pick in 1987. A left-winger, he was drafted after his freshman year with the University of Michigan. He broke his leg the summer after being drafted, though, and he never quite seemed to get to the potential that the Flames felt he had. He spent a season with the Canadian National Team and three seasons with the Flames’ International League affiliate, the Salt Lake Golden Eagles.

The Flames traded Deasley to the Quebec Nordiques a few days prior to the 1991 trade deadline in exchange for forward Claude Loiselle. However, the NHL voided the move a couple days later, as it turns out that the Nordiques had placed Loiselle on waivers prior to trading him to the Flames – and you’re not allowed to trade players that you’ve placed on the waiver wire. (Loiselle ended up being claimed by the Maple Leafs.)

So Deasley returned to the Flames. He spent the 1991-92 season with Salt Lake before being traded to the Nordiques – for real this time – during the 1992 off-season.

The Flames acquired Dean McAmmond from Philadelphia during the 2001 off-season, and he emerged as a really useful player, slotting in with Craig Conroy and Jarome Iginla on the top line. (McAmmond may be the least likely first-liner in club history.)

Prior to the following season, the Flames ended up including McAmmond in a five-player swap, sending him along with Derek Morris and Jeff Shantz to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Chris Drury and Stephane Yelle on Oct. 1. As the season wore on, though, the Flames decided to reacquire him, sending a draft pick back to Colorado for McAmmond’s services prior to the 2023 trade deadline.

Except… the Flames weren’t allowed to dress McAmmond for the rest of the season. McAmmond was traded to Colorado prior to the Oct. 4 waiver draft, and under league rules at the time, teams weren’t allowed to reacquire players they had traded before the waiver draft during the following season. (The idea was that you couldn’t just trade a player to avoid exposing them in the waiver draft.)

The Flames have made two trades after the NHL’s trade deadline; in each case, the trades were AHL-level trades that were allowed under league rules, but the players that changed hands wouldn’t be allowed to play in the NHL playoffs with their new teams because they were acquired after the deadline.

Get ready, hockey fans! The Daily Faceoff Deadline is happening on March 7th from 11 AM to 4 PM Eastern, and you won’t want to miss it. We’ll be LIVE, breaking down every trade and big move as it happens, with instant reactions and expert analysis from the Daily Faceoff crew. Plus, we’ve got special guests lined up throughout the show, offering exclusive insights from some of the biggest names in the game. From blockbuster trades to surprise moves, we’re covering it all. Tune in to the Daily Faceoff YouTube channel and follow Daily Faceoff socials on March 7th to catch all the action!