FlamesNation mailbag: the post-trade deadline edition

All the trade deadline scrambling that would have made a Monday mailbag redundant is behind us. That means it’s time for the weekly mailbag, but this time on a Wednesday because we’re all about breaking the rules!

As of our chat last month with Calgary Municipal Land Corporation head honcho Kate Thompson, CMLC is currently in the process of selecting the primary architect for the building. They’re expecting to have that in place – and publicly announced – sometime in March, and at that point we can really start speculating about design elements. In the interim, the public consultation on design elements continues.

As for Ken King? John Bean quietly took over as president (and CEO) last year, leaving King on as vice-chairman. It would be presumptuous to guess what his next moves are, but he’s put a lot of time and effort into getting the deal done (as has Bean) so I imagine ownership lets him continue on for the foreseeable future in whatever capacity he wishes to.

Feuk hasn’t had a great pro season in the secondary Swedish league – two points in 27 games. But he’s been a consistently good junior player and he’s been superb for AIK in the relegation playoffs. He joined the AIK junior squad to begin the post-season, and it says a lot about his competitive nature that he’s been one of the best players in the competition given what’s on the line – nobody wants to get relegated.

Nikolayev is working his way back from an injury, but he’s had a solid if unspectacular MHL season. He’s one of the top two-way players in the league and his offensive output has made an uptick, but that’s to be expected given his draft pedigree and skill level.

Nodler has been reliable for Michigan State this year, playing rock-solid two-way hockey primarily as their second line center. That said, his offense has dried up since Christmas and the Spartans could really use a spark. He’s a true freshman and this is the highest level of competition he’s faced, and it’s not uncommon for first year college players to hit a wall midway through year. (A similar thing happens with college players in their first year of pro.)

None of the three has impressed to the level of, say, Dustin Wolf or Jakob Pelletier. But there are positives to each of their seasons.

Maybe?

He’s a Swede joining an organization full of Swedes and he has pre-existing relationships with a lot of his new teammates. His agent is the same as Elias Lindholm’s. It’s too early to say whether he would or not, but I imagine both his camp and the team are approaching his tenure here as a 19 game trial to see if there’s a fit.

Jankowski’s definitely been better than he was earlier in the season. Heck, he’s been quite good over the last 20-ish games the Flames have played. That said, right now his performance level is “good fourth line forward” and the question is whether the Flames have anybody in the system who can do the job as well (or more effectively). The other thing is Jankowski’s RFA status – his qualifying offer will be $1.75 million. Can somebody do his job more cost-effectively?

It sounds like Travis Hamonic won’t be back for awhile, so this may be moot.

But if it’s not, here’s what I would do with a fully healthy blueline:

Mark Giordano – TJ Brodie
Noah Hanifin – Travis Hamonic
Erik Gustafsson – Rasmus Andersson

If you have the chance to do an all-Swede pairing, you do the all-Swede pairing.