Within the Nationwide Hockey League, making trades is concurrently an artwork, a science and a job in clever asset administration. Through the years, the Calgary Flames have had a number of basic managers that had been fairly good on the artwork of the deal – notably the legendary “Dealer Cliff” Fletcher.
However on the identical time, the Flames have had their fair proportion of terrible trades over the course of their historical past. Listed here are the seven worst swaps the Flames have ever created from the angle of maximizing the worth of any organizational property.
Flames Commerce F Jarome Iginla to Penguins for F Kenny Agostino, F Ben Hanowski and a 2013 1st-Spherical Choose (March 28, 2013)
In 4 a long time in Calgary, the Flames have traded their captain in-season 3 times. Brad Marsh landed them Mel Bridgman. Joe Nieuwendyk fetched Jarome Iginla and Corey Millen. This was simply the worst return they’ve obtained for the center and soul of their staff: a few mid-level faculty prospects and a late first-round decide.
Granted, Iginla had a no-move clause in his contract and so basic supervisor Jay Feaster’s fingers had been tied a bit. However the lack of a lot return compounded the disappointing circumstances that spelled the tip of Iginla’s time in Calgary.
Flames Commerce D Jay Bouwmeester to Blues for G Reto Berra, D Mark Cundari and a 2013 1st-Spherical Choose (April 1, 2013)
Persevering with the “Feaster trades key property for pennies on the greenback” pattern is the second disappointing transfer he made previous the 2013 commerce deadline. Jay Bouwmeester, a rangy, cerebral, minutes-eating defender, was despatched away for an obscure goaltending prospect, a minor league defenseman and a mid-range first-round decide.
Contemplating that there was nonetheless loads of tread left on Bouwmeester’s tires and that his contract each had time period left and contained no restrictive motion clauses, the return was tremendously underwhelming.
Flames Commerce D Robyn Regehr, F Ales Kotalik and a 2012 2nd-Spherical Choose to Sabres for D Chris Butler and F Paul Byron (June 25, 2011)
On one hand, this commerce succeeded in opening up cap area for the Flames to re-sign Alex Tanguay earlier than he turned an unrestricted free agent. However this was a part of a Russian nesting doll of terrible transactions: Kotalik had been acquired in a commerce with the Rangers to unload Olli Jokinen and instantly turned a poisonous asset as a consequence of his diminishing pace and large cap hit. So the Flames needed to package deal a second-round decide in an effort to unload Kotalik.
The top consequence was the Flames buying and selling Regehr, their alternate captain and finest shutdown defender (despite the fact that he had misplaced some pace) and solely actually getting a few depth items in return. On account of this swap, the Flames needed to commerce down within the 2012 Draft to recoup that misplaced second-round decide, starting a endless cycle of criticism for buying and selling right down to draft Mark Jankowski.
Flames Commerce F Brandon Prust, F Matthew Lombardi and a 2010 1st-Spherical Choose to Coyotes for F Olli Jokinen and a 2009 Third-Spherical Choose (March 4, 2009)
Prust holds the distinctive distinction of being traded by the Flames twice throughout the identical 12-month interval. This commerce was notably puzzling, because the Flames guess massive on Jokinen to push them excessive – sending three key organizational property out the door to get him.
The guess didn’t work and Prust (since reacquired) was packaged with Jokinen and despatched to the Rangers the next February. They entered the 2010 NHL Draft with out their first-round choice and with out the participant they traded it to accumulate.
Flames Commerce D Dion Phaneuf, D Keith Aulie and F Fredrik Sjostrom to Maple Leafs for F Niklas Hagman, F Jamal Mayers, F Matt Stajan and D Ian White (Jan. 31, 2010)
In his remaining main commerce as GM, Darryl Sutter despatched a participant simply two seasons faraway from Norris Trophy competition, a strong defensive prospect and a penalty-killing specialist to Toronto in change for Matt Stajan and a bunch of spare elements.
Following the commerce, many across the league expressed shock that a 24-year-old stud defender had been moved so abruptly – suggesting strongly that the Flames might’ve gotten extra for Dion Phaneuf if they’d waited for the commerce deadline or the NHL Draft to make a transfer.
Flames Commerce F Doug Gilmour, F Kent Manderville, D Ric Nattress, D Jamie Macoun and G Rick Wamsley to Maple Leafs for F Gary Leeman, F Alex Godynyuk, F Craig Berube, D Michel Petit and G Jeff Reese (Jan. 2, 1992)
Below the watch of GM Doug Risebrough, the Flames went for a little bit of a dip. Plenty of that was due to financial components distinctive to Canada, notably the free-falling Canadian greenback, however Risebrough’s first main transfer didn’t do a lot to quell fears that he wasn’t one of the best match for the job.
He shipped out 4 members of the 1989 Stanley Cup-winning staff, plus high prospect Kent Manderville, in a transfer that noticed the membership obtain Gary Leeman and a bunch of secondary (or tertiary) property. The biggest deal in NHL historical past on the time, the departure of the favored Doug Gilmour appeared to sign the start of the tip of the staff’s glory days.
Flames Commerce F Marc Savard to Thrashers for F Ruslan Zainullin (Nov. 15, 2002)
Typically coaches and gamers don’t see eye to eye, however the public feud between Marc Savard and Flames head coach Greg Gilbert appeared to get more and more bitter as time wore on. Confronted with a troublesome state of affairs, GM Craig Button cashed out on Savard – buying and selling him to the Thrashers for obscure Russian prospect Ruslan Zainullin. Roughly two weeks later Button fired Gilbert anyway, in some way ending with out his star participant or his star coach. Zainullin by no means came visiting to North America and peaked as a 0.5 point-per-game participant within the Russian Superleague. From an asset administration perspective, it’s tough to think about a state of affairs being dealt with worse.
