What’s The Right Price For Jiri Hudler?

Sportsnet analyst Elliotte Friedman joined the Sportsnet 960 The Fan morning show earlier today, discussing all manners of things regarding the Calgary Flames and the National Hockey League.

Among the nuggets of information that Friedman shared with listeners was a bit of contextualizing the recent rumblings regarding Flames winger Jiri Hudler.

The obvious follow-up question: What is the right price? “I get the sense that it’s not going to be cheap,” noted Friedman.

The two richest trades in recent Flames history involved prominent players swapped in package deals that resulted in first round picks coming to Calgary along with less impressive prospects. Jarome Iginla yielded Calgary a late first-round pick along with college prospects Ben Hanowski and Kenny Agostino, in a deal that was widely panned when it was announced. Jay Bouwmeester netted a middle pick in the first round along with Reto Berra and Mark Cundari. Again, in retrospect, not an amazing deal.

But then again, neither guy was coming off a season where they were among the most effective wingers in the NHL and neither had white-hot buzz in hockey circles.

In terms of Hudler, I’d look up north and a more recent deal: the Edmonton Oilers sent David Perron to the Penguins and got back Rob Klinkhammer and a first round pick. The thought process was likely that the Oilers wished to get a roster player back, and the Penguins were likely fine with swapping a pick in the back-half of the first round in order to get a player to push them over the top. Similarly, Antoine Vermette garnered Arizona a first round pick and young defender Klas Dahlbeck at the trade deadline.

Based on these recent deals, I’d expect Calgary to begin the conversation with a first round pick and some combination of a winger for the second or third lines or a defensive prospect. Brad Treliving may lean towards the pragmatic; considering Calgary doesn’t have much established NHL depth on the right wing (and would be giving up one of their few strong wingers), he may try to get a right-wing that can play right away rather than a prospect.