FlamesNation Mailbag: What’s left after the trade?

Did the Flames make a big move, or something? Well, good news: free agency opens in not even a week, so we can probably expect more to come!

I’d also like to note that while some questions don’t appear in this mailbag, keep an eye out for future posts: they’ll get answered there.

Lots of defence questions, unsurprisingly, so I’ve grouped them together.

It’s highly unlikely the Flames are done making moves, and I’d say it continues to be highly unlikely they’re done on defence, either. Strictly from an on-ice perspective (the only perspective I will be addressing, because we know absolutely nothing about the inner workings of the locker room), the Flames just made their defence worse. It’s really difficult to see them think they’re done after that, especially when they did absolutely nothing to address the logjam (Adam Fox isn’t a part of it anymore, but he was likely the furthest out from being ready for the NHL to begin with).

I do think they’re working on moving Michael Stone, as he’s the most expendable right shot, and Rasmus Andersson is the next guy up. By trading Dougie Hamilton, the Flames just gave a green light to TJ Brodie: trading him, too, would send a defence core that just got shaken up into a tailspin (you do not trade away your two concrete top pairing options like that). They just spent a lot to acquire Travis Hamonic a year ago; they don’t move on from that ship. That just leaves Stone, and we’re fast approaching the point that Andersson has to be in the NHL.

But if they can’t move Stone, then I wonder if Andersson makes the NHL anyway, because, well, someone has to sit in the press box (and I’m not saying it’ll be Andersson sitting).

As for Juuso Valimaki, that’s going to depend on how ready he is. If he isn’t, but there’s already a spot in the NHL lineup reserved for him, then the Flames would have just avoidably hurt themselves.

All in all, this is what I think it could come down to:

I wouldn’t be ready to anoint Elias Lindholm a top line guy at this point in time – he’s been in the NHL for five seasons already and his career high in points is only 45 – but he’s definitely a top six guy, and chances are, he’s going to get better in short order. How much better remains to be seen, though; there’s also the factor that he’s never played with someone of Johnny Gaudreau’s caliber.

However, that doesn’t mean Lindholm has only played with scrubs: his most common linemates this past season were Jeff Skinner and Sebastian Aho. (Other common linemates over the years: Eric and Jordan Staal, Victor Rask.) Lindholm has consistently been one of Carolina’s six highest scoring players, though. He should have no problem fitting in on one of the Flames’ top two lines.

(An earlier, defence-related question also asked if the Flames make a move for another right wing, rather than putting all of their eggs in the Lindholm basket; I certainly wouldn’t rule that out. Last season the Flames needed everything to go right in order to have success. It did not work. Contingency plans are good.)

As for the bottom six, it’s still something of a mess: you’ve got Troy Brouwer, Sam Bennett, and Curtis Lazar presently signed, Mark Jankowski and Nick Shore pretty much certain to come back, and maybe Garnet Hathaway, too. That’s six guys already, without the Flames signing, like, maybe Derek Ryan or somebody else from Bill Peters’ past. I’d be on the lookout for free agent singings at this point, though there’s always the potential for another trade (if, say, they have to take a roster player back for Stone, then it’s probably not gonna be a defenceman…).

There’s also the chance someone projected to be in the bottom six gets an upgrade! I believe, with Lindholm coming in, Bennett’s place will still be on the left side. He had his best year with Mikael Backlund though, so just spitballing, but a possibility could be:

With Michael Frolik maybe bumped down to play alongside Jankowski.

With the forwards available to the Flames now – and mind, this could change very quickly over the next week – there’s a spot for Bennett in the top six. He’ll have to prove he’s a better option than the other players, though. It’s up to him.

Even if they add Ryan, there’s room for a kid: someone’s going to have to sit. (Even if healthy, I can’t see Hathaway, Lazar, and Shore getting in all 82 games.) Probably just one, though, which I would say is ideal: you don’t want to leave too many holes in your lineup, and this way you’ve set your prospects up for some heavy competition to make the NHL.

Another potential forward lineup combination:

They can definitely clear away a third line spot if they really want to.

Technically, they did get something for him: Noah Hanifin and Lindholm. It’s just that we don’t know how key a piece he was in getting the deal done. By my eye, Hamilton was the best player in the trade, Hanifin and Lindholm were in the middle, and Micheal Ferland was the worst (sorry, Ferland). Maybe the Hurricanes wouldn’t do the deal without Fox.

I’d still question that, though. Throwing in Brandon Hickey in the Mike Smith trade was one thing, but we saw another questionable move not too long ago, too: not lottery protecting the first round pick given up for Travis Hamonic. I think we’re at the point where it’s fair to heap an incredible amount of scepticism on any future trades Brad Treliving makes.

If anything, it may have lengthened it – if you believe the Flames are in that window to begin with. The Flames not only upgraded their forward position, but did so with a younger guy who will probably be much more consistent, and has more years ahead of him.

But that’s reliant on thinking the Flames are contenders to begin with, and they sure proved us wrong last year.

Future reaction shot of anyone who tunes in to the Flames’ 2018-19 opener after not keeping up with the offseason:

Funny you should ask that, we had the same thought.

Also, shoutout to Glenbow! I hadn’t been there in a really long time. Their Asian art exhibit just closed but there is still a lot of cool stuff there; we ran out of time. Got particularly enthralled by the warriors exhibit.

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