The Calgary Flames Send Signal They Are Open For Business
TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun joined SportsCenter with Jay Onrait and when asked about what the Elias Lindholm trade means for the Flames moving forward, LeBrun stated things are just getting started for Craig Conroy, the GM, and the Flames.
NHLRumors.com Transcription***
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Jay Onrait: “And you know, you said it, the Canucks very clearly for it. For the Flames, it’s still a bit murky. Is this just the beginning? You and I talked about this on yesterday’s show. Is this just the beginning for Craig Conroy here? Or where is Craig Conroy’s head at?”
Pierre LeBrun: “Yeah, and you know, what I mentioned last night, Jay was that teams that have been calling the Flames over the last couple of weeks, we’re getting different answers. Are you ready to start, you know dumping guys or not? And we’re getting different answers.
Well, I think we just got our answer, and the fact is, by the way, that another pending UFA defenseman, Chris Tanev, who’s in huge demand, there’s a dozen teams that would like to get in on that action. He was a name that was brought up in this trade discussion between Calgary and Vancouver, sources confirmed. So this could have been an even bigger deal that we’re talking about.
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But I think the kind of assets that Calgary needed for that to be part of it was too high a price for Vancouver to pay, but I guess, Canucks could keep tabs on Chris Tanev between now and March 8th, but also Noah Hanifin pending UFA we’ll see where that goes.
And so I do think this signals for the Calgary Flames some sort of roster reset for sure. And when it comes to Lindholm, by the way, who’s obviously a pending UFA Jay, you know, contract talks really were nowhere between Calgary and Elias Lindholm. In fact, they really stopped going anywhere before the start of this season, is what I’m told. A sizable gap and they never really got going again after that. So this was probably always what was gonna happen unless the Flames were sitting in a playoff spot.
I remember. Craig Conroy made a big deal when he got named GM a couple of years ago that they weren’t going to lose big-time UFAs for nothing, which is what happened with Johnny Gaudreau.”