Committing to a rebuild was a lot of the talk surrounding the Calgary Flames before the 2024-25 season started. The expectation was for this team to finish near the bottom of the standings and put themselves in a prime position to draft another franchise-altering player.
That expectation has been nowhere near reality as the Flames through 50 games played this season, have gone 25-18-7 and sit in the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference with 57 points, one point out of third place in the Pacific Division.
The Flames have done well up until this point and even though a lot of the success has been thanks to an absurd rookie season from goaltender Dustin Wolf, they are right in the middle of a wild playoff race. When a team is playing well and they show they have what it takes to compete, a general manager can take notice of that and reward the team with improvements to help them continue that success.
That’s exactly what Flames general manager Craig Conroy did on Thursday night, right after the Flames knocked off the Anaheim Ducks 4-1. He acquired forwards Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee in exchange for forwards Andrei Kuzmenko and Jacob Pelletier as well as a 2025 second-round pick and a 2028 seventh-round pick.
One thing has been made clear after this trade; the Flames are committing to push for a playoff spot this season. That is now the goal for the remainder of the season and the addition of Frost and Farabee are going to help with that.
First off, the Flames hit a home run with this deal. For what they gave up and what they got in return, I don’t think it could have looked better. The Flames added two young forwards, one being a centre (Frost) which is something Conroy has been looking to do for a while, and the other a former 50-point winger who plays with a little bit of swag and edge. Frost is a 25-year-old who was drafted 27th overall in 2017. He’s a playmaking forward with great vision and IQ and can also be an asset on the power play. He’s only played two full seasons in the NHL before this year and has had 40-plus points in both years. Farabee is 24 years old who was drafted 14th overall in 2018 and he’s a power forward that uses his speed to create chances. Both these players have had their struggles with Flyers head coach John Tortorella so with a little more opportunity and perhaps leniency in Calgary, it’s intriguing to see if that propels both of their games.
The Flames have scored the third-lowest number of goals in the NHL this season. They are scoring goals at the same rate as teams like the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, and Anaheim Ducks, none of whom are in a playoff spot. As mentioned earlier, without Wolf the Flames would not be in the position that they right now. He has single-handedly won them multiple games and is continuing to drag them toward the playoffs. This trade is supposed to offset that, help boost the Flames’ offensive production, and allow them to get away from needing to rely on Wolf’s extraordinary play to win games.
These two forwards not only can come in and contribute right away with that secondary scoring that the Flames desperately need, but they also fit into the future Conroy is trying to build here. Farabee has three years left on his current contract that carries an AAV of $5 million and Frost becomes an RFA at the end of this season giving the Flames full control to re-sign him.
The real beauty of this trade lies in what the Flames had to give up. Losing Jakob Pelletier stings a little bit as a fan favourite who spent years in the organization and was finally making that jump to the NHL level, but let’s not forget that he was on waivers earlier in the season. He was a player the Flames were willing to lose for nothing not too long ago and now ended up being used as a trade chip to make the team stronger.
Kuzmenko was never part of the Flames’ long-term plans, he was always going to be a rental and an asset that could be flipped at the trade deadline. There was a point in the season around the middle of December when it looked like the Flames were probably not going to get anything for Kuzmenko, who was being scratched night after night. Kuzmenko’s 39-goal rookie season two years ago is still the one thing that makes him enticing. The possibility of him returning to that form is still there and it garnered enough interest for the Flames to be able to move him and the Flyers to take a gamble on him. I’m sure it helps that he used to play with young Flyers star Matvei Michkov in the KHL a few years ago.
So really the Flames acquired two first-round draft selections for two players they were always fine with parting ways with and only had to tack on a second-round pick and a seventh-round pick three years down the road to make it happen. That second-round pick was the biggest asset they gave up in all of this but considering that this draft class is supposedly not one of the stronger ones, that second-round pick doesn’t seem all that important especially when it was for two proven NHLers who both have already had 40-plus point seasons (with the potential and opportunity to produce more) and are supposed to be here for the long run.
The Flyers on the other hand did a few things. For one this was an eventual cap dump. They get rid of Farabee’s contract which has a $5 million cap hit and replace it with Kuzmenko’s $5.5 million cap hit. The difference is, that Kuzmenko’s contract is up at the end of this season giving the Flyers all that extra money to work with in the off-season. They get a first-round selection in Pelletier who still has the potential to be that skillful, energetic, creative forward who can contribute offensively at the NHL level and will also be an RFA at the end of the season. The Flyers took a couple of gambles, but making the playoffs this season doesn’t seem likely for them, so if they don’t end up liking Kuzmenko and Pelletier, it’s no problem. It’s a low-risk, high-reward move for the Flyers as they can part ways with both at the end of the season if they choose and use that added cap space in free agency.
Although this was a stellar move for the Flames it’s not like it was a bad one for the Flyers. Farabee and Frost needed a change of scenery, the Flames were looking for secondary scoring and a young center, and the Flyers cleared up cap space while having the possibility of two skilled forwards working out.
Once again, some great work from Conroy has made the Flames better at this moment. They are better suited to push for the playoffs than they were 48 hours ago. Now it’s all up to Frost and Farabee to come in and make that difference.
Flames Trade Grade: A+
Flyers Trade Grade: B
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