Report: Flames looking to move one of TJ Brodie or Travis Hamonic

According to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, on his Bobcast podcast, the Calgary Flames are looking to make a big move on their back end. Per McKenzie, the Flames are looking to trade one of TJ Brodie or Travis Hamonic.

If you’d like to listen to the whole podcast, click here. The relevant section is about 45 minutes in, but here’s a transcript:

Raise your hand if you’re shocked to hear the recurrence of Frolik trade talk.

As we’ve discussed here quite a bit, Rasmus Andersson had a heck of a season and even spent a good amount of time playing alongside Mark Giordano on the top pairing. The emergence of Andersson as a bonafide top four option – and to a lesser extent the emergence of Oliver Kylington and Juuso Valimaki as options to be NHL regulars going forward – gives the Flames a surplus of NHL-ready bodies.

With a tight salary cap and new deals needed for Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Andrew Mangiapane, David Rittich (and for whoever is Rittich’s backup), it makes it pretty clear-cut to move either Hamonic or Brodie to open up a regular spot on the top two pairings for Andersson. Per PuckPedia: Hamonic and Brodie are both entering the final years of their contracts, with Hamonic carrying a $3.857 million cap hit and Brodie a $4.65 million cap hit.

There’s the potential for the Flames to lose one or both of these defenders, either via free agency or to Seattle during the expansion process in 2021. It makes a ton of sense – to allow Andersson to progress, for cap reasons and for logistical reasons – to move either Brodie or Hamonic. Knowing Flames general manager Brad Treliving and how he operates, a move could happen as early as the upcoming NHL Draft in Vancouver.