The Calgary Flames made many, many trades in 2024 as Craig Conroy began the transition from the end of the team’s contention window into a more forward-looking phase.

As such, Conroy consummated eight trades (featuring 10 transactions) during the calendar year. We’ve decided to rank them from worst to best.

Last time we got into the lower-profile depth trades. This half tackles the trades involving the club’s heavy hitters.

#4: The Flames trade Chris Tanev (50% retained) to New Jersey for Cole Brady; then trade Brady to Dallas for Artem Grushnikov, a 2024 second-round pick and a conditional 2026 third-round pick (Feb. 27)

When we made the distinction between “trades” and “transactions,” there were two three-way trades involving the Flames that featuring in the top four. This is the first of them.

The Flames parted ways with Chris Tanev, acquired and then parted ways with college goalie Cole Brady, and then added Artem Grushnikov, a 2024 second-round pick, and a conditional 2026 third-round pick – if Dallas had made the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, the Flames would have gotten the third-rounder. Tanev had his salary retained twice, which made him very inexpensive for Dallas.

Based on what we’ve been told afterwards (stick-taps to The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun), the Flames had to choose between packages that included a second-rounder and a decent prospect (from Dallas) or a first-rounder and a bad contract (from Colorado). They opted to go with Dallas’ offer, adding Grushnikov and using the second-rounder to take Jacob Battaglia, who’s currently a standout in the OHL.

Reasonable people can disagree over whether they should’ve gotten more for Tanev, but they got two young assets for a 34-year-old (at the time) shutdown defender who plays a really injury-risky style of hockey. The return on this one seems pretty solid.

#3: The Flames trade Noah Hanifin (50% retained) to Philadelphia for Mikhail Vorobyov; then trade Vorobyov to Vegas for Daniil Miromanov, a conditional 2025 first-round pick and a conditional 2024 third-round pick (Mar. 6)

Ah, Mikhail Vorobyov, we hardly knew you. (And it’s very on-brand for Conroy that even the throw-in players he acquires in three-way trades to adhere to the league’s rules are Russians.)

Hanifin was arguably the biggest trade chip the Flames had coming into the 2023-24 season as a pending free agent in his prime years. When he ended up being traded, it was to Vegas with 50% salary retained, in exchange for Daniil Miromanov, a first-round pick with an odd condition, and a conditional 2024 third-round pick. The condition on the first-rounder was that it could be in 2025, unless Vegas traded it before the trade deadline (or it somehow ended up in the top 10), in which case it would become a 2026 first-rounder instead – they traded their 2025 pick to San Jose in the Tomas Hertl swap. The condition on the third-rounder was that it would upgrade to a second-rounder in 2025 if Vegas won a playoff round in 2024 – they did not.

So for a 27-year-old, pending UFA defenceman with an eight-team no-trade list, the Flames got a young roster player, a 2026 first-round pick, and a 2024 third-round pick (used to select goalie Kirill Zarubin). It doesn’t look like a home run right now as they didn’t get a top prospect or an established roster player back, but at the very least it’s a solid double (and could improve depending on how that first-rounder in 2026 turns out).

#2: The Flames trade Jacob Markstrom (50% retained) to New Jersey for Kevin Bahl and a conditional 2025 first-round pick (Jun. 19)

So, a storyline that followed the Flames for a big chunk of the year – between February and June – was “Hey, are they trading Jacob Markstrom or not?” Our insider friends reported that a trade to New Jersey nearly happened before the trade deadline, and the desire to get a deal done – from the player, the Flames and the Devils – didn’t go away.

A week before the NHL Draft, the Flames made a move. Heading to New Jersey at 50% salary retained was Markstrom (and the final two years of his deal). Heading to Calgary was big-bodied defender Kevin Bahl and a first-round pick that’s either in 2025 (if New Jersey’s pick this year is 11th-to-32nd) or 2026 (if it’s in the top 10).

Again, you’re allowed to criticize the return if you want. But Markstrom was 34 (at the time) and had missed a quarter of the 2023-24 season with injuries, so a young roster player and a first-round pick feels like a pretty good return for that type of asset.

#1: The Flames trade Elias Lindholm to Vancouver for Andrei Kuzmenko, Vancouver’s 2024 first-round pick, a conditional 2024 fourth-round pick, Hunter Brzustewicz and Joni Jurmo (Jan. 31)

Lindholm probably began the 2023-24 season as the Flames’ most exciting trade chip, but he had a bit of a disappointing season overall. If you had told us that the Flames would get more for Hanifin than Lindholm, even as a rental, that would’ve made sense given each player’s performance prior to their trades.

But Conroy hit a home run with the Lindholm trade. The Flames acquired Andrei Kuzmenko, a 2024 first-round pick (used on Matvei Gridin), a conditional 2024 fourth-round pick (subsequently traded to Philadelphia for two more picks), and prospects Hunter Brzustewicz and Joni Jurmo. The condition on the fourth-round pick was that if Vancouver made the conference final, it would upgrade to a 2024 third-round pick – alas, they did not.

The Flames did have to take back Kuzmenko, who had fallen out of Vancouver’s plans and was needed to make the cap math work. But when you factor in how the picks were used, the Flames acquired five future assets – Gridin, Luke Misa, Eric Jamieson, Brzustewicz and Jurmo – and Kuzmenko for a player they could’ve lost for nothing as a free agent. When you look at the Flames’ stated goals – getting younger – to what they did with this trade, it’s pretty tough to nitpick it. (And considering there’s two full months before the trade deadline, Kuzmenko could still play his way into being a tradeable asset.)

What did you think was the Flames’ best trade of 2024? Do you agree with our rankings? Let us know in the comments!

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