The NHL is eating out of Craig Conroy’s hands when it comes to the March 8th trade deadline. The Calgary Flames hold three of the top assets on the trade market in Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev and Jacob Markstrom.

Today we are going to play fantasy GM and come up with some potential trade proposals for defenceman Noah Hanifin.

Hanifin should fetch a fairly sizable return in a trade for the Flames. He is the type of defenceman who can play on your top pair, eat a ton of minutes, and produce a little offence while doing so. That type of player doesn’t hit the trade market all that often.

Comparable trades from the past start with a first round pick. After that it’s usually another piece or two that could be draft picks or prospects. So, with that in mind, let’s come up with some trade proposals.

The Dallas Stars should do everything in their power to win now. Joe Pavelski, Matt Duchene, Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, and Ryan Suter are all older, veteran players who are still in their prime. But that is going to come to a close sooner than later. They need to win within the next year or two. A guy like Hanifin could help get the Stars over the top.

Trade Proposal

To Dallas: Noah Hanifin

To Calgary: 2024 1st Round Pick, Ty Dellandrea (F)

History has shown us that the Flames like trades where they acquire a draft pick, as well as a player who can play on the NHL roster. This trade does exactly that. They get Dallas’ first round pick along with a 23 year old forward with a little bit of upside.

Similar to the Stars, this is a season where the Florida Panthers should be going all in to win the Stanley Cup. They have two defencemen signed to contracts beyond this season. Aaron Ekblad is a UFA in 2025. Sam Reinhart is a UFA this summer. This Panther team won’t be the same next season and they are going to need defencemen long term.

A deal with the Panthers screams sign and trade to me. The Flames sign Hanifin to an eight year contract extension and move him to Florida, just like the Flames did with Matthew Tkachuk in 2022.

To Florida: Noah Hanifin (Signs an 8 year, $56M contract), 2026 3rd Round Pick

To Calgary: Anton Lundell

Lundell likely wouldn’t be part of a deal if Hanifin was a rental. But if they can get Hanifin signed to an extension, I think a guy like Lundell could be had. And that is the exact kind of piece the Calgary Flames should be looking to acquire. And the Flames might need to add another piece, say a draft pick, to this package in order to acquire a player of Lundell’s pedigree.

Frank Seravalli reported that Noah Hanifin has expressed interest in wanting to sign with the Tampa Bay Lightning as a free agent. Tampa lost Mikhail Sergachev for the season. So there is a clear fit between Hanifin and the Lightning.

This would be a difficult deal for the Lightning to make because they lack high end prospects and draft capitol.

To Tampa Bay: Noah Hanifin

The Tampa Bay Lightning will have to pay a premium for Hanifin if they offer draft picks 2-3 years from now. Hence why they are providing so many high quality picks.

But would Tampa Bay want to do this when they know that they’ll have a solid opportunity to sign Hanifin as a free agent this summer?

I don’t think there is a fit between these two teams, but because they have been connected by Seravalli, I thought I would come up with what a potential deal might look like.

The Bruins are a logical fit for Hanifin. He’s from the area, Grew up a Bruins fan. On top of that the Bruins Matt Grzelcyk, Derek Forbort, and Kevin Shattenkirk are all pending UFA’s this summer. They’re going to need to replace those minutes with someone like Hanifin. That would leave a top four of Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, Brandon Carlo and Noah Hanifin for at least the next three seasons.

To Boston: Noah Hanifin

To Calgary: 2025 1st Round Pick, 2024 5th Round Pick, Fabian Lysell (RW)

The Flames getting a 2025 1st round pick would be a good thing. They would be able to space out their draft picks over multiple years, something Ryan Pike has written about in the past. And it makes a lot of sense. It might not be a good thing for the Flames to put all their eggs in one basket like they did in 2013 when they went 1 for 3 in the first round.

The Flames should be able to get a solid return for Hanifin, especially if the team acquiring him can him him to a long term extension.