“I don’t think Jacob Markstrom’s issue with the Flames’ front office is at all with Craig Conroy,” Seravalli said. “My understanding, and this is a belief I’ve had for three weeks or a month now, is that the Flames and Devils had agreed to a trade on Markstrom. They had gone to Markstrom and said, ‘We’re thinking about trading you to New Jersey, what are your thoughts?’ He gave them the green light. I don’t know if he actually had a piece of paper in front of him or not. But the two sides, I believe, had agreed in principle to a trade, and then above Craig Conroy — so, if you’re reading between the lines and picking up what I’m putting down here — Don Maloney, on behalf of ownership, is believed to have nixed this trade.

“I think Markstrom’s frustration is, ‘You asked me if I would waive, I said yes, then you don’t trade me?’ And then you determine after the fact that you’re not going to trade me, or you’ve told people that you’re not going to trade me. I could understand why that would be disappointing. And I think from Markstrom’s perspective, he’s a really competitive guy. He wants a chance to win. He doesn’t want to sit here and languish — not to say that’s going to end up happening, because I do think they’ll trade him in the summer, and it makes sense because there’ll probably be four or five teams that’ll be in the mix for Markstrom.”