Flames Tried To Extend Chris Tanev, May Look For Cheap Replacement
On Wednesday, the Stars’ acquisition of Chris Tanev from the Flames marked the first major pre-deadline deal involving a defenseman. As such, the past 36 hours have allowed for reporting to uncover more information about the days preceding the trade and what impacts it could have on the defense market in the week leading up to the trade deadline.
Among the finalists for Tanev were the Avalanche, Canucks, Maple Leafs, and Oilers, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun said on Thursday’s episode of “Insider Trading.” Toronto was in conversations later than other teams, as LeBrun reports Leafs GM Brad Treliving had discussions with the Flames’ front office as late as hours before Tanev was dealt to Dallas.
LeBrun confirmed that Treliving’s lack of willingness to part with a first-round pick caused Calgary to ultimately decline their offer. However, the Flames’ interest in Stars defense prospect Artyom Grushnikov is quickly looking like what turned the tides in Dallas’ favor. That’s because the Flames had a first-round pick on the table in an offer from another team, but it was contingent on Calgary taking an NHL roster player with term back in the deal – something Calgary GM Craig Conroy wasn’t willing to do, LeBrun said.
In response, Friedman wondered if the Flames may now add a cheap NHL-ready blue-liner to help mitigate the loss of Tanev down the stretch. The team is in no condition to spend significant assets in a trade after selling off Tanev, Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov earlier in the season. Still, a mid- or late-round pick may be in play to avoid overplaying depth defenders like Dennis Gilbert, Jordan Oesterle and Brayden Pachal.
Afternoon Notes: Tanev, Islanders, Granato, Keefe
The newest Dallas Stars defenseman, Chris Tanev, isn’t expected to slot into Dallas’ lineup immediately, per Sportsnet’s Eric Francis. Francis added that Tanev will stay in Calgary for a few days while he secures a visa. The Stars acquired Tanev from the Calgary Flames on Wednesday, sending two draft picks and defensive prospect Artem Grushnikov back to the Flames. Dallas also sent a fourth-round pick to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for the Devils retaining 50 percent of Tanev’s cap hit.
Tanev, 34, was arguably the top name on the trade market, with a long list of teams interested in adding his defensive prowess. He only has 14 points in 56 games this season, but he led active Flames defensemen in both CF% (Corsi-For Percentage) and xGF% (expected goals-for percentage), speaking to his ability to control possession and scoring opportunities. Tanev has been in the league since the 2010-11 season, when he debuted with the Vancouver Canucks, who signed him as an undrafted free agent ahead of the season. He’s played in the NHL every season since, totaling 185 points and 773 games in the league. Dallas will mark the third team of Tanev’s career, after 10 years in Vancouver and four in Calgary.
Other notes from around the league:
- New York Islanders defenseman Robert Bortuzzo is still not skating, shares Ethan Sears of the New York Post. Bortuzzo rehabbing a lower-body injury that’s earned him a place on the team’s long-term injured reserve. He hasn’t played since January 2nd, forcing the Islanders to once again test their defensive depth. Sears also shared that the Islanders are expected to recall Hudson Fasching from his AHL conditioning stint, though he won’t be immediately activated off of LTIR. Fasching has one goal in three AHL games this season.
- The NHL has fined both Buffalo Sabres head coach Don Granato and Toronto Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe for unprofessional conduct directed at officials. Each coach was docked $25K. Keefe received a game misconduct for arguing with the refs about a Mitch Marner tripping call, continuing to question the refs even after Toronto had killed off the penalty. Granato received a bench penalty for arguing a Zach Benson tripping penalty, with the opposing Florida Panthers scoring the game-winning goal on the resulting five-on-three power-play. These fines follow a precedent set by the league that aims to reduce abuse of officials.
Dallas Stars Acquire Chris Tanev From Calgary Flames
The Dallas Stars have acquired defenseman Chris Tanev from the Calgary Flames, and goaltender Cole Brady from the New Jersey Devils, per a team announcement. The Stars will send defensive prospect Artyom Grushnikov, a 2024 second-round pick, and a conditional 2026 third-round pick back to Calgary. Dallas has also sent a 2026 fourth-round pick to the Devils for their part in retaining 50% of Tanev’s salary for the remainder of the 2023-24 season.
As the Flames also retained 50% of Tanev’s contract, that brings his AAV down to just $1.125MM for the Stars. As far as the conditions on the conditional third-round pick headed to Calgary, the Flames will only receive this pick if Dallas makes it to the 2024 Stanley Cup Final.
With Tanev now in the fold, this gives Dallas a formidable top-four of their defensive unit with Miro Heiskanen, Thomas Harley, and Esa Lindell also in the mix. As Tanev was previously one of the grittier defensemen on this year’s trade market, he will make the Stars much more difficult to play against leading into the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs.
In the last season of a four-year, $18MM contract signed with the Flames organization, Tanev has averaged over 20 minutes a night in Calgary during his tenure. In 259 games played with the Flames, Tanev has scored a total of 10 goals and 67 points during his tenure in Alberta. 
Nevertheless, the Stars undoubtedly targeted Tanev due to his defensive prowess, as he averaged close to a 90.0 on-ice save percentage in all situations over his career. Aside from carrying solid defensive awareness, Tanev has also averaged more than 100 blocked shots each season, and he will become the new leader in that category in Texas with 171 already this year.
Currently, in a backup role at the University of Massachusetts, Brady was brought to the Devils organization as a fifth-round selection in the 2019 NHL Draft. In now his fourth season in the NCAA, Brady has played in a total of 46 games for Massachusetts and Arizona State, earning a 16-18-4 record with a .902 SV%.
In return to Calgary, Grushnikov was originally drafted 48th overall by the Stars in the 2021 NHL Draft. In his first full season in the American Hockey League, he has played in 44 games for Dallas’ AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars, scoring one goal and five points overall. Nevertheless, Grushnikov does have solid defensive awareness like Tanev and can frustrate opposing players in his zone.
By adding the second-round selection and the conditional third-round pick, the Flames now have a total of 24 draft picks available to them in the next three NHL Drafts. Intent on rebuilding the team through the draft to supplement their core, General Manager Craig Conroy continues to stockpile picks through his trades this season to do just that.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports images.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report the deal.
The Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli was the first to report the return to Calgary.
The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun was the first to report the full return to Calgary.
Seravalli was the first to report New Jersey’s involvement in the trade.
Andrei Kuzmenko Out Saturday With Illness
- Flames winger Andrei Kuzmenko will miss tonight’s Battle of Alberta with an illness, coach Ryan Huska said (via Eric Francis of Sportsnet). The middle-six scoring winger has been up-and-down since Calgary acquired him from the Canucks in the Elias Lindholm trade, notching three goals and one assist in eight games with a -2 rating. He hasn’t seen an uptick in ice time since moving across provincial lines, averaging 14:06 per game with Calgary compared to 14:21 with Vancouver. He’s signed through next season at a $5.5MM cap hit.
Flames Receiving Trade Interest In Rasmus Andersson
There has been no shortage of trade speculation coming from Calgary this season. Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm have already been moved while Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin, and Jacob Markstrom are all in the rumor mill as well. But those aren’t the only players teams are calling about as ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reports (Twitter link) that the Flames are also receiving trade interest in defenseman Rasmus Andersson.
The 27-year-old has become a top-pairing player in recent seasons after putting up 50 points in 2021-22 and 49 points in 2022-23 while logging big minutes. This year, Andersson’s numbers are down a bit as he has 28 points through 51 games so far but is averaging a little over 24 minutes a night and is playing in all situations. With 122 blocks, he’s only 14 shy of his career-high on that front as well.
On top of that, Andersson has a contract that certainly has been well below market value as of late. He’s signed through the 2025-26 campaign with a $4.5MM cap hit, a price point that’s more commensurate with a second-pairing player than a top-pairing one. Getting someone with that type of surplus value would make a lot of sense for many teams.
Of course, holding onto a player like that also makes sense for Calgary. GM Craig Conroy indicated earlier this week that he doesn’t intend for the Flames to go into a full-scale rebuild. It’s one thing to move players on expiring contracts as they’ve done twice so far and could do twice more with Tanev and Hanifin where you risk losing the player for free in free agency but it’s another to move a controllable key asset like Andersson.
Accordingly, it would be surprising to see Conroy move Andersson in the three weeks before the March 8th trade deadline unless the return was simply too good to pass up on. However, that won’t stop teams from inquiring in the hopes that they can come up with an offer that would make Calgary part with one of its top blueliners.
Pelletier Doubtful For Monday But Nearing Return
- Flames winger Jakob Pelletier is making progress in his recovery from an upper-body injury that has caused him to miss the last two games but he isn’t expected to play on Monday versus Winnipeg, relays Sportsnet 960’s Pat Steinberg (Twitter link). The 22-year-old has been limited to just four games so far this season (plus four more in the minors) due to injury. However, it appears this one won’t keep him out for much longer.
Noah Hanifin Likely To Test Free Agency
The agents for Flames defenseman Noah Hanifin have informed the team that he will not sign an extension ahead of the March 8 trade deadline and instead intends to test unrestricted free agency this summer, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports on “Saturday Headlines.”
TSN’s Chris Johnston reported earlier in the month that Hanifin’s camp was expected to inform Flames GM Craig Conroy of his re-signing intentions in the coming days. Hanifin indicated last summer he was not willing to extend in Calgary, but became amenable to a deal closer to the beginning of the season and was reportedly offered an eight-year deal with a $7.5MM AAV shortly thereafter.
That deal was still on the table by all indications heading into their discussions this month, but Hanifin likely believes he can attract richer offers over the summer – or with a new squad in the coming months. He’ll now surely be dealt by the deadline and, at 27 years old, becomes the top rental option remaining on the market at any position with Penguins winger Jake Guentzel injured.
With one foot in the “stay in Calgary” door, there haven’t been many documented suitors for Hanifin in recent weeks. The Coyotes had demonstrated interest earlier in the season, but a 2-7-1 stretch in their last 10 games has them far out of the playoff picture and takes them out of the conversation for making a rental acquisition.
Some contenders and playoff hopefuls with obvious holes on defense, such as the Maple Leafs and Lightning, would likely be willing to give up assets for Hanifin without a guarantee of an extension. The minute-munching defender, who has 30 points and a +11 rating in 54 contests, carries a reasonable cap hit of $4.95MM, although that’s still likely too much to swallow for most contenders without moving money the other way.
It’s worth noting that Hanifin has some control over his short-term destiny. His deal affords him an eight-team no-trade list, per CapFriendly. Whether Hanifin would consider an extension with his post-deadline team is unclear.
The coming weeks will end a six-year tenure for Hanifin in Calgary. The Flames acquired him, along with Elias Lindholm, from the Hurricanes in a June 2018 blockbuster, sending Micheal Ferland, Dougie Hamilton, and the signing rights to future Rangers superstar Adam Fox in return.
Hanifin’s averaged a career-high 23:44 this season, and his 0.56 points per game is the second-highest mark of his career. His expected +1.3 rating is pedestrian compared to recent seasons, however, as is his career-worst Corsi-for percentage of 49.6 at even strength.
Flames Make Multiple Roster Moves
The Flames recalled forward Dryden Hunt from the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers and activated goaltender Daniel Vladař off injured reserve in simultaneous transactions Friday morning, according to a team announcement. To clear the two necessary roster spots, the team assigned forward Cole Schwindt and netminder Dustin Wolf to the Wranglers.
Hunt, 28, has played in four games for the Flames this season, all coming within the first few weeks of the campaign after he made the NHL roster out of training camp. He has not been recalled since the Flames placed him on waivers and reassigned him to the minors in early November.
The undrafted free agent signed by the Panthers in 2016 has done quite well in his latest minor-league stint, posting seven goals and 22 points with a +11 rating in 23 games. The veteran of over 200 NHL games is on his fourth NHL team in the last two seasons after bouncing between the Rangers, Avalanche and Maple Leafs in 2022-23.
Calgary acquired Hunt in a deadline swap of minor-league forwards from Toronto at last year’s trade deadline, but he did not play for the team in the season’s final weeks. He reached unrestricted free agency without an extension in hand on July 1. Still, the Flames brought him back to the organization one day into the signing period with a two-year, two-way deal worth $1.55MM that pays him a minimum guaranteed salary of $400K this year and next.
Hunt scored three goals in 37 games split between the trio mentioned above of squads last season, averaging a career-low 8:04 per game. His expected -2.2 rating was also a career low. He is, however, two years removed from posting a career-high 17 points in 76 games with the Rangers in the 2021-22 campaign.
Vladař returns to the active roster after missing the last three games with a lower-body injury sustained off-ice. He hasn’t played since starting three straight games in mid-January, backing up starter Jacob Markström in five straight before landing on IR last week. The 26-year-old has a career-low .888 SV% and 3.27 GAA, not counting his five-game stint with the Bruins in 2020-21, and has a 7-7-2 record in 16 starts. This year is his third season backing up Markström after being brought over from Boston for a third-round pick in the summer of 2021.
While Markström’s high-end performance this season has generated a significant amount of trade interest, Vladař could be a chip for the Flames to move out if dealing the final three years of Markström’s $6MM AAV deal becomes too much of an obstacle in-season. The 26-year-old is signed through next season at a $2.2MM cap hit.
Schwindt returns to the Wranglers after playing 7:40 in yesterday’s 6-3 loss to the Sharks, posting zeros across the board. He has 2 PIMs, one shot on goal, and a -1 rating in four NHL showings this season dating back to late January.
The latest NHL shot for the 22-year-old Wolf didn’t go as planned. Calgary’s top goalie prospect conceded six goals on 31 shots against the division-worst Sharks last night, dropping his NHL SV% in 2023-24 to .878 through five starts and one relief appearance. The 6-foot California native has still performed at an elite level with the Wranglers, though, recording a .927 SV%, four shutouts, and an 18-7-2 record in 28 games.
Jakob Pelletier Listed As Day-To-Day
The Flames have now listed winger Jakob Pelletier as day-to-day with an upper-body injury, per a team announcement. Pelletier, 22, played just 54 seconds against the Rangers on Monday before leaving the game after taking a hit from New York captain Jacob Trouba.
Thankfully, the day-to-day designation infers this injury isn’t related to the left shoulder surgery that sidelined him for the first three months of the season. After returning to health in January, the Flames assigned the 2019 first-round pick to the AHL, where he netted two goals and an assist in four games. Since returning to the NHL earlier this month, the Québec City native has an assist in four appearances. He got his first taste of NHL action last season, recording three goals and seven points in 24 games while averaging 14:11.
Flames Recall Cole Schwindt
Feb. 14: Calgary summoned Schwindt back to the NHL roster on Wednesday, according to the team. Schwindt played in the Wranglers’ 4-2 over Manitoba yesterday, scoring once on two shots on goal.
Feb. 13: The Flames reassigned forward Cole Schwindt to AHL Calgary on Tuesday, per a team announcement.
Schwindt, 22, has spent most of the last three weeks on the NHL roster, interrupted by a temporary AHL assignment over the All-Star break. This one is likely more permanent after being scratched in all four games since Calgary returned to play last week.
Acquired from the Panthers as part of 2022’s Jonathan Huberdeau/Matthew Tkachuk blockbuster, the Canadian’s three showings in late January were his first since the trade. A Florida third-round pick in 2019, Schwindt has no points, a -5 rating and four shots on goal while averaging 10:19 in six games since his NHL debut.
Given his limited NHL action, he’s logged significant time with AHL Calgary over the past two years. He hasn’t eclipsed his rookie highs set with Charlotte in 2021-22, though, and his 22 goals and 52 points through 110 games since the trade aren’t quite what the Flames hoped for when they acquired him.
For now, the Flames have only 11 healthy forwards – winger Jakob Pelletier left Monday’s game against the Rangers and did not return.
Schwindt is in the final season of his entry-level contract and remains waiver-exempt. He’ll be a restricted free agent this summer and is due a qualifying offer of $874,125.