The Calgary Flames did extremely well in acquiring Kevin Bahl and a first-round pick from the New Jersey Devils for Jacob Markstrom last year, but those two pieces are still secondary reasons why they won that particular trade.

Especially in a year where their own first-round draft choice could potentially end up with the Montreal Canadiens, the Flames needed to give themselves another bullet in 2025’s top 32. By the looks of it, that pick could end up in the late teens. But it’s not why they won the trade.

Bahl, who turns 25 in June and is due for a new contract the following month, has exceeded expectations in his first season as a Flame, averaging more than 21 minutes per night and collecting 17 points in 59 games. He’s a big guy who skates well, and he should have a long and successful career. But he’s not why they won the trade.

No, the Flames won the Jacob Markstrom trade because they didn’t waste their chance to strike when they had the opportunity to upgrade on multiple levels. They needed to get another pick — they did. They needed another defenceman — they got one. And best of all, by moving on from their incumbent 34-year-old goaltender, they opened the door for a certain 23-year-old to step in and take the reins.

And guess what? That 23-year-old is already better than Markstrom. That’s why they won the trade.

None of this is meant to take away from what Markstrom gave the Flames during his four seasons here. He chose to sign in Calgary at the height of a global pandemic, leaving a Pacific Division rival in the process, and backstopped the Flames to the second round of the playoffs in 2022. He was a Vezina Trophy finalist that same year.

But the Flames only made the playoffs once during Markstrom’s tenure, and his later years in Calgary were marred by inconsistency between the pipes. He constantly gave up goals on the first shot he faced to start games. In a league where a .905 save percentage is essentially the Mendoza line for a goaltender, Markstrom only exceeded it once with the Flames.

As we covered at length here on FlamesNation last summer, the Flames completely reset the trade market for veteran goaltenders when they sent Markstrom to the Devils last June. Goalies in their 30s, even past Vezina nominees, seldom ever go for more than a mid-round pick and a prospect. A month after Marc-André Fleury won the Vezina Trophy in 2021, Vegas couldn’t get a single asset when they dealt him to the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Devils paid an inordinate price to land Markstrom because they desperately needed stability in net, even after adding Jake Allen at the previous trade deadline. But while Markstrom has undoubtedly been an upgrade on the likes of Akira Schmid, Nico Daws, and Vitek Vanecek, his numbers — especially since his return from injury earlier this month — haven’t been anything to write home about. He’s 22-14-5 with a .901 on the year and has won just one out of six games in March.

In any event, how Markstrom performs in New Jersey is largely immaterial. Even if he had a .920 this year, the Flames still would’ve made the right choice by freeing up the starter’s job for Dustin Wolf, who has made for a sensational replacement in his first full NHL season. He’s quick, smart, and cool as a cucumber. Getting Bahl and the first-rounder? That’s gravy.

Will the success of the Markstrom trade help to inform any of the future decisions Flames GM Craig Conroy will have to make over the next few months? The Flames have done relatively well in selling off key veterans in off-season deals since Conroy took over, with the Andrew Mangiapane and Tyler Toffoli returns still looking strong (Yegor Sharangovich’s difficult year notwithstanding). And with another blue-chipper in Zayne Parekh already aggressively staking his claim for an NHL job next year, will Conroy be able to pull off a repeat of the Markstrom deal by trading Rasmus Andersson? Or will the Flames opt to have them coexist on the big club? It’s certainly easier to swing it with defencemen than goalies …

Either way, the Flames are in a much better spot today than they were before they traded Markstrom, and a lot of it comes down to the fact that they acted when they did. Wolf has already proven himself to be the best young goalie in the NHL; Markstrom is a year away from unrestricted free agency and certainly wouldn’t have re-signed in Calgary. How would things look today if the Flames had kicked that particular can down the road another year? In all likelihood, not good.

Now, if Wolf ever gets the Flames past the Oilers in the playoffs, he’ll have Markstrom beat for sure. But that’ll have to wait … won’t it?

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