Rumour Roundup: The calm before the storm

The trade deadline is less than 48 hours away. While the dominoes haven’t exactly toppled yet, the level of trade chatter from the usual hockey insiders leads one to believe that the Calgary Flames could be quite busy in the next few days.

Brother of Michael Stone, offense-driving winger Mark Stone (a pending Ottawa Senators free agent) is one of the most coveted players on the market. But after Matt Duchene fetched two prospects, a first round pick and a conditional first round pick, the price has essentially been set for Stone.

Based on projections kicking around online, the Flames can add around $5.77 million in full-year cap hits and still be under the cap ceiling. But Stone carries a $7.35 million AAV, so the Flames would need to send some money out the door to make him fit.

But if the idea is that they would trade for Stone and then keep him, then maybe that’s something they’re prepared to do.

If you’re someone bristling at moving out a member of a roster that’s second overall in the NHL – and you wouldn’t be alone in feeling that way – the secondary winger market is probably right up your alley.

The primary focuses of trade chatter regarding secondary wingers have been New York Rangers winger Mats Zuccarello – Flames GM Brad Treliving took in Thursday’s Rangers/Wild game at Madison Square Garden – and Senators winger Matt Dzingel.

Zuccarello has a $4.5 million cap hit while Dzingel has a super-low $1.8 million hit, so adding one of these players – especially Dzingel – would still give the Flames the cap flexibility to potentially add a depth defender, or even just maintain some cap flexibility for potential injuries down the stretch.

We’ll have more on the ongoing trade chatter (and the Flames’ placement in the market) as it develops.