Friedman: Calgary Flames looked at trading for Timo Meier

According to Elliotte Friedman on Hockey Night in Canada’s 32 Thoughts intermission segment., the Calgary Flames kicked tires on the 26-year-old star Timo Meier prior to the San Jose Sharks trading the forward to the New Jersey Devils.

“I think Calgary looked at [trading for Meier] too, but they were more interested in him if they could sign him, which Meier obviously hasn’t done,” said Friedman.

Trading for Meier would have taken a lot of assets, as evidenced by what the New Jersey Devils eventually gave up for him, but considering general manager Brad Treliving has talked about the team sitting in “win now” mode, it would have been an immediate upgrade and something that would have helped tremendously in that pursuit.

However, Treliving also mentioned in his press conference that he didn’t want to make a big move unless it helped the team long-term, and clearly, that’s something that he wasn’t willing to throw out the window even for Meier.

Sitting beside Friedman was Jeff Marek, who talked about the Flames’ trade for Nick Ritchie and Troy Stecher, sending Nick’s brother Brett Ritchie and Connor Mackey back to the Arizona Coyotes.

“Nick Ritchie has been on the Calgary Flames’ radar for a number of years when he signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs. There were six teams that made legitimate offers, and then [the Coyotes] whittled it down to three. Calgary was one of those three teams. [Nick Ritchie] was highly coveted by the Flames and, specifically, Darryl Sutter.”

Marek also notes that this was in the cards for Brett, as rumours have been swirling around his name for a while now with a team like the Los Angeles Kings last summer.

The Ritchie deal is notably the first trade in NHL history where two brothers were traded for each other. With the addition of Nick Ritchie also comes the addition of a very solid depth defenseman in Stecher, who is on a very friendly deal for the rest of the season at $1.25 million. He’ll be an important piece for the Flames moving forward in their playoff chase.