Rare Oilers-Flames trade could make sense involving a defenceman

It’s desperate times for both the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames.

While the Flames seem like they are starting to prepare for a fire sale to either retool or jump headfirst into a rebuild, the Oilers sound like they want the complete opposite.

With Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in the prime of their careers, all eyes in Edmonton are fixed on the Stanley Cup. Though, a 2-7-1 record seems to indicate just the opposite.

The Oilers have been plagued by a combination of poor goaltending and awful team defence. Despite having the majority of the high-danger scoring chances in most games, they cannot keep the puck out of their own net.

It just doesn’t look like the Oilers are deep enough defensively to be a legitimate Stanley Cup contender, and changes need to be made quickly if they want to salvage the season.

Luckily for them, it does appear that the Flames are preparing to float a few attractive defencemen out onto the trade market. According to a report by Elliotte Friedman, the Flames have started to make calls to gauge trade interest in Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev, and Nikita Zadorov.

The most attractive player of that trio is Hanifin, who is currently playing on the Flames’ second pairing with Tanev. Per analytics website Natural Stat Trick, he ranks first among the team’s defencemen with at least 100 minutes on the ice in high-danger chances-for percentage (HDCF%) at 58.02 and has only been on the ice for one high-danger goal all season.

Getting a trade done for Hanifin would present some difficulties from Edmonton’s perspective. The team already has Darnell Nurse and Mattias Ekholm firmly in top-four roles on the left side. Adding in Hanifin would force one of those players to play third-pairing minutes, which isn’t ideal considering the salaries involved.

There would also be the task of Edmonton offloading enough cap space to make room for Hanifin’s $4.95 million cap hit. There just doesn’t appear to be an obvious fit, although he would be a welcome addition.

Instead, the better trade piece to revolve a potential Oilers-Flames trade around would be Tanev. Not only would Edmonton have the perfect spot for him to play, alongside Darnell Nurse replacing Cody Ceci, but he also has a slightly lower cap hit at $4.5 million.

Tanev has struggled a bit so far this year but is generally a very strong and reliable even-strength defender, something that is in short supply in Edmonton.

This would require Calgary to agree to a deal with Edmonton, which is generally a pretty rare occurrence. Why would a rebuilding or retooling Flames team willingly help their provincial rivals out of a tough spot? The answer is desperation.

At this moment in time, there might not be a more desperate team in the NHL than the Oilers. Their playoff chances are shrinking by the day and they are determined to make sure this season isn’t lost. While most other teams would probably be unwilling to pay that extra bit in a trade right now, the Oilers don’t have the luxury of standing pat.

That desperation could lead to the Flames getting a bit more than they would in a trade with any other team.

The first hurdle would be offloading some salary from the Oilers to make the money work. For this kind of trade, it would most likely have to be a defenceman leaving Edmonton. Two candidates who could be attractive salary throw-ins are Ceci and Brett Kulak.

Kulak is a former Flames defenceman and holds a cap hit of $2.75 million for two more seasons. Ceci is the less attractive player and has struggled with some injury issues, with his cap hit a bit more at $3.25 million for one more season.

If Calgary is willing to take on one of these players and retain a bit of money off Tanev’s contract, the Oilers could certainly find a way to make it work.

That is just one part of the trade, however, and the Flames will require more to make this worthwhile. Any offer would most likely start with Edmonton’s 2024 first-round pick. Considering Edmonton’s position in the standings, it’s fair to say that it would most likely have some sort of lottery protection on it.

If that doesn’t entice Calgary enough, the Oilers could also potentially part with a younger player like Philip Broberg, who has not been able to find himself consistent work on the NHL roster, or Xavier Bourgualt, who has yet to make his way into the NHL.

The idea of the Flames trading some of their top players seems like nonsense on the surface, but it could wind up in both team’s best interests.