Rebuild In FULL Swing

1PM EST rolled around and Flames fans were left fuming. To that point team made exactly one move at trade deadline. Was it Blake Coleman? Nazem Kadri? Lomberg? Waiver pickups Hanley or Pachal?

Nope.

Craig Conroy added…Dylan Strome from Anaheim. A player who’s only suited up for 33 games this season. A cap anchor for Anaheim. So the Flames took the cap hit with assets in return right? Nope. Calgary PAID for Strome with a 7th. Why add another 3rd line C with term???

Unless…

Earlier in the week, following the blockbuster trade of Mackenzie Weegar and finally confirmation the Flames’ are entering a full rebuild, reported deals for Kadri to Colorado came out. The rumour, Murray Edwards didn’t want to retain salary on Kadri. Now, how much of that is actually true we’ll never know. Edwards does a great job making money and fleecing the taxpayer for his arena, but a FULL rebuild…?

Kadri Traded to Colorado for Picks

You can’t say Craig Conroy ain’t cooking in the kitchen jettisoning players past their prime for assets to help the rebuild. The wild card is always you have to draft good players who translate into NHLers. Time will tell…

Both Coleman and Kadri had term left on their contracts so a move today wasn’t necessary until the right deal landed. But maybe Calgary did well to the player and sent him off to Colorado for multiple Cup runs. 3 years of term left on a $7 million dollar contract is a big contract to get rid of, and signals that unlike Calgary’s false spring, this is no false rebuild, it’s tearing it down to the studs.

Final deadline transaction:

CGY

1st Round Pick 2028 (conditions)

Victor Olofsson

Max Curran

and a conditional 2nd 2027 (I’ve read it’s a 3rd with conditions to upgrade).

20% retained.

COL

Nazem Kadri

4th Round Pick 2027

 

The return is mid, with no serious prospect coming back. Almost as if the Flames were doing Kadri a solid and letting him go because he wanted out. That seems ill-advised given how much term he has left on the contract and whether a return would have been better in the summer (Montreal was reported to be in the mix.) But what do arm chair GMs know?

It’s also wild that Treliving’s legacy is all but erased here, clearly marking a shift in the franchise, and come new building time, the Flames will be a completely unrecognizable team hopefully with young players paving the way for years of playoff success instead of decades as a mid-tier under performing team.

 

A prospect swap with NYR happened at the end of day too.

CGY

Brennan Othman

NYR

Jason Battaglia