Rumour Report: Quinn Hughes wants Chris Tanev on the Canucks, scouts scouting, and more!
5 months ago
The National Hockey League trade deadline is just 43 days away, so the hot stove is getting hot.
This is the Rumour Report, where we look at trade rumours from across the league that pertain to the Calgary Flames. Could a shutdown defenceman on the Flames head back to his former team? What teams are looking at the Flames? Could the Flames and the Edmonton Oilers link up in a trade?
Let’s find out.
Quinn Hughes wants Chris Tanev back
The Flames and the Vancouver Canucks have already made one trade this season, when the Flames sent Nikita Zadorov to the Pacific Division rival for a 2026 third-round pick and a fifth-round pick in 2024.
Well, Canucks superstar defenceman Quinn Hughes wants the Canucks to re-acquire Flames defenceman Chris Tanev according to Rick Dhaliwal.
The undrafted defenceman started his professional career with the Canucks, playing 514 games with the team and scoring 22 goals and 118 points before signing his current deal with the Flames.
This season, Tanev has a goal and nine points in 44 games, but is a premier shutdown defenceman in the league, and will likely be one of the most highly sought after defencemen at the March 8 trade deadline.
Scouts at Flames’ latest game
Sometimes, scouts attend games to prepare their teams for upcoming match-ups, and sometimes they are there to scout. For the Flames game against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday, there were scouts representing the Colorado Avalanche, Florida Panthers, and many other teams as reported by The Hockey News’ Randy Sportak.
Two of these teams, the Blue Jackets and Blues, make sense as those were teams that played the Flames in the final week before the All-Star Game. However, most of those teams are likely looking at Flames players as potential upgrades, such as Elias Lindholm for the Avalanche.
Oilers pundit suggests a trade with Flames
It sucks, but the Edmonton Oilers are contenders, especially with the massive win streak to end 2023 and start 2024. Oilers pundit Bob Stauffer suggested a trade on his Oilers Now radio show on Tuesday which included Lindholm with 50% of his salary retained heading to the Flames’ provincial rival.
In return, the Flames would receive Edmonton’s late first-round pick in the upcoming draft, prospect Xavier Bourgault, and former Flame Brett Kulak to balance out the salaries. The Oilers don’t need a centre, as that’s locked down by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
However, the Oilers do need a top six right wing, and Lindholm has experience playing the position. Still, the deal probably isn’t enough for the Flames and may not make sense for the Oilers, as Philip Broberg is a downgrade from Kulak.
Bruins could shift to a shutdown defenceman
According to an article written by Nick Goss of NBC Sports Boston earlier in the week, the Boston Bruins may have shifted focus from a top six centre to a shutdown defenceman.
The Bruins have been seen as a fit for Lindholm, as Pierre LeBrun in an Athletic column from last month suggested that it’s a perfect fit. For context, Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha are their two top six forwards after Patrice Bergeron and David Krejčí after the 2022-23 season.
However, with the team scoring and winning, Goss believes the Bruins may shift to a defenceman who “plays tough minutes in the playoff, a penalty killer, physical, able to clear the zone under heavy pressure”. Well, the Flames have a player for your needs, as they basically described Chris Tanev.
Unfortunately for the Bruins, their assets are below average, as they barely have any cap space remaining according to Puckpedia, while also having one of the worst farm systems in the league.
We took a deep dive on the Boston Bruins in the first Meet the Buyers article, which you can read here.
Arthur Kaliyev may be traded
Could two Pacific Division teams link up in a trade at the deadline? We’ve already covered two Pacific Division teams with needs that the Flames have covered, but if the Flames want a young, low-risk, high-reward winger who needs a change of scenery, maybe a trade with the Los Angeles Kings would work.
According to Darren Dreger of TSN, the Kings’ Arthur Kaliyev and the Oilers’ Philip Broberg could do with a change of scenery.
Kaliyev has been a healthy scratch multiple times and teams “have started to take notice”. While Dreger notes that the Kings are “not quite interested in moving Kaliyev yet,” he believes that Kaliyev needs to play.
This season, the 22-year-old winger has six goals and 14 points in 36 games played. His career-year was in 2022-23 when he scored 13 goals and 28 points in 56 games, so there’s definitely a lot of talent there.
If the Kings need a forward (Lindholm) or a defenceman (Noah Hanifin, Tanev) from the Flames, Kaliyev could be the type of player the Flames want in return.
Thanks for reading! You can follow me on Twitter @Brennan_L_D.
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