Thursday night, the Calgary Flames got off to a commanding 3-0 lead early and looked ready to roll right into forcing a game seven with the Dallas Stars. After the first though the game changed and their season ended quickly as they let in seven goals including a four-goal performance from Denis Gurianov. This is big news right now online and even more so here in western Canada where the calls for change and huge change are out yet again.
The top line for the Flames this season was bad. Terrible, even. The top line of Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan and Elias Lindholm are taking the brunt of the anger right now, and things will be changing. Will they move a big name like the fans seem to be calling for, and will the Devils have an interest and the pieces to make it happen. Lindholm is still a new young piece for them, so the odds of him moving on already are rather remote so we will be looking at the two long term Flames players.
The answer on the Devils side should be yes. They have a lot of parts that we could move to a team like Calgary, who may be looking to retool and rebuild on the fly. The price wouldn’t be as high as many might think. The two later 1st-round picks would be up for grabs and combinations of those and players like Pavel Zacha, Michael McLeod, Will Butcher, Janne Kuokkanen, or Jesper Boqvist would get any of these moves done with ease. It might even be worth giving up both of the later 1st-round picks in a deal.
Another main reason to believe they will be moving on from one of these forwards is former Devil Taylor Hall. Born in Calgary, played for there biggest rival, and felt betrayed he was traded. What a story it will be when he signs with the Flames this offseason. From the Calgary perspective, they can get the offense right back for nothing but cash and move out one of these players for a big return of assets. They will see it as a win-win situation which adds a lot to the rumors.