TSN: Martin Biron and Jamie McLellan on why the Calgary Flames didn’t trade Jacob Markstrom at the trade deadline when the Calgary Flames are trading players for futures as they look to retool.
** NHLRumors.com transcribe
Gino Reda: “All right, James. So by all, by all accounts, it certainly seems like Jacob Markstrom wants to go. He wants to get out of Calgary. He said he doesn’t like the way things have been handled from up top. And certainly get the sense Calgary Flames are saying let’s look to the future and they’d like to move him.
So where’s the breakdown? Why is this not happening?”
Biron: “Oh, well, number one. I think that there’s very few teams that need a goalie like Jacob Markstrom right now. And one of them was New Jersey. I don’t think that’s happening.
But two, I think that the luxury would Markstrom is the other two years. You don’t have to just look at now you can look at two years down the road and so you got a goalie for two plus years at the level. And Markstrom is playing better now than he did early in the season. Before February 1st he was outside of the top 10 and goals saved above expectation. Since February 1, they trade (Elias) Lindholm away. They trade (Nikita) Zadorov away.”
Reda: “So is this an auction for him? Like move me.”
Biron: “He’s number three in the league behind (Igor) Shesterkin and (Ukko-Pekka) Luukkonen in Buffalo in goals saved above expectation. It’s almost like he says, ‘I want to go. I’m showing you what I can do. Somebody come get me.’
I mean I could be wrong, but that’s the way I feel it’s been going on for Markstrom.”
Reda: “So if he wants to go on and they want to move him, why are they not moving him?”
McLellan: “Well keep in mind he controls the situation with the no-move clause. So if he says, ‘hey, I want to go to Team X, and that’s the only team I want to go to.’ It’s almost like the Tarasenko situation where Tarasenko said, ‘I want to go to Florida.’ So Florida says well, we’ll come up with the best deal possible. So wherever he wants to go, maybe if he expands his list a little bit, the asking price or the price coming back will go the other way.
The other thing too is, what Marty just pointed out, he’s got two years left on his deal. So there’s no rush to do it by .”
Reda: “So the Flames aren’t going to let him handcuff the organization into moving him.”
McLellan: “But Craig Conroy is doing what’s best for the organization. The player wants to do what’s best for him. They have to work hand in hand to get it done. If it’s not , it’s gonna have to be in the offseason.”
Biron: “But it’s also, the thing is the, the goalies come in behind Jacob Markstrom and they feel like Dustin Wolf is ready and they can maybe use a (Dan) Vladar or somebody else, you don’t need Markstrom there.
You’re in a bit of a rebuild you don’t, you have the pieces in place, and waiting two more years for Wolf to have his shot may be too late down the road.”
McLellan: “But you have to get a king’s ransom for him. You just pointed out, he has been one of the best goaltenders in the National Hockey League, on the planet, this season. You’re not just trading him just for the sake of trading him.”
Reda: “So you’re not gonna get forced into a deal.”