Flames Trade Deadline 2015: A Recap
By Ryan Pike
9 years agoThe 2015 NHL trade deadline will probably be best remembered as the day where the Calgary Flames announced Mark Giordano’s season had ended.
That’s probably warranted, given that’s the single largest news item of the day, but it does overshadow the work done by Brad Treliving and his staff this past week. They had two players that didn’t have a future in the organization and turned them into three draft picks in the first three rounds of a deep draft.
Here’s a glance at how everything turned out and where we go from here.
THE MOVES
Here’s what Calgary did today.
- Assigned F Markus Granlund, F Emile Poirier and F Michael Ferland to Adirondack (AHL), so they are eligible to play in the AHL playoffs.
- To stay at the NHL’s minimum roster size, they recalled F Drew Shore from Adirondack (AHL), so he’s not eligible to play in the playoffs.
- Traded F Sven Baertschi to Vancouver for a 2015 second round pick.
The club also announced that D Mark Giordano is undergoing surgery and is out for the rest of the season.
These moves come in the wake of the team’s largest transaction of the season, the trading of Curtis Glencross to Washington for 2015 second and third round picks. The Flames now have one first round pick, three second round picks and two third round picks in this June’s NHL Draft.
THE ROSTER
As of right now, the Flames roster sits at 20 healthy bodies.
- Goaies (2): Karri Ramo and Jonas Hiller
- Defensemen (7): Kris Russell, Dennis Wideman, T.J. Brodie, Corey Potter, Deryk Engelland, Raphael Diaz and David Schlemko
- Forwards (11): Joe Colborne, Mikael Backlund, Johnny Gaudreau, Lance
Bouma, David Jones, Mason Raymond, Sean Monahan, Jiri Hudler, Brandon
Bollig, Josh Jooris and Drew Shore - Injured: Mark Giordano (upper body), Ladislav Smid (upper body), Paul Byron (all-over-body)
- Non-Roster: Matt Stajan (personal)
I would expect a few recalls will be coming – likely at least two forwards, probably two of Michael Ferland, Emile Poirier and Markus Granlund. When Stajan returns, that’ll give the Flames decent forward depth. As for defenders, it’ll have to be a by-committee job, which is a tall order when you consider they’re replacing a Norris Trophy front-runner.
THE VERDICT
Honestly, given what we know about Giordano now, I think Brad Treliving did the best he could. Both Glencross and Baertschi didn’t really fit into the team’s plans – nor did either of them seem likely to sign with the club. For two players that were going to fly the coop anyway, Treliving got three key draft picks in a deep draft. And he didn’t give up any roster players outside of Glencross; I had considered he may try to move either Karri Ramo or Mikael Backlund, and they were getting inquiries about defenders, but standing pat keeps the team’s roster about as strong as it can be, with two solid goaltenders and some center depth. The defensive group is the team’s weakness right now.
Could he have gotten the Flames more immediate help? Possibly, but the prices that were thrown around were pretty ludicrous and for a team in the second year of a rebuild, they seemed much too high for the team to be paying. The picks give Calgary flexibility as they head into the summer.
For now, without their captain and best player, the Flames have a tough 20 games ahead of them. We know Mark Giordano is a world-class player. How good is the rest of the team without him? We’re about to find out.
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