Best Flames Trades Countdown: #5 – Cashing out on Tim Erixon

Way, way back at the end of 2010, Jay Feaster became Calgary Flames general manager and inherited a bunch of weird problems from predecessor Darryl Sutter. He solved one of the first problems with perhaps his finest trade as the Flames’ hockey ops boss.

Way, way back in 2009, the Flames went a predictable way for their first round pick. A club that had lots of success drafting Swedes, they grabbed Tim Erixon – a highly-touted defender and son of former New York Rangers forward Jan Erixon.

Of course, it soon became evident that Erixon (a) wanted to make the NHL immediately and (b) had grown up dreaming of playing for the Rangers. Between those two factors, it would be challenging for the Flames to sign him. Waiting a year and change did nothing to solve that issue, and then the Flames parted ways with the GM that drafted him.

The Flames faced the prospect of Erixon going back into the 2011 NHL Draft and receiving a compensatory second round pick. But the Rangers seemingly liked the idea of Erixon joining them, so they reached out to the Flames. Rather than hope against hope that they’d be able to land Erixon during the draft, the Rangers made an offer that the Flames liked.

Instead of losing Erixon for a compensatory draft pick (which would’ve been around 53rd overall), they threw in a fifth round pick and received from the Rangers junior forward Roman Horak and a pair of second round picks (45th and 57th overall). From a sheer asset management perspective, it gave the Flames three pieces of value for the price of one.

The Flames knew Horak well, as his junior teammate Ryan Howse was a Flames pick and so the club had a good book on him. Horak went pro the following season and played 82 games over parts of two seasons before being traded to the Edmonton Oilers.

The second round picks turned into Markus Granlund and Tyler Wotherspoon. Granlund spent 86 games with the Flames before being swapped to Vancouver for Hunter Shinkaruk. Wotherspoon spent 30 games with the Flames before walking into free agency.

The Flames got three players that played NHL games for them – a combined 198 – in exchange for a player that wasn’t going to sign with them. That’s value. The fact that Erixon has played a sum total of 93 games in the NHL likely serves as a cherry on top for the Flames.