TRADE DEADLINE
Flames start to sell
You'd rather be souping up a sporty ride for what could be an epic road-trip than trying to figure out how to fix a clunker.
Calgary Flames general manager Brad Treliving certainly didn't anticipate, as the final hours ticked toward Monday's trade deadline, that he would operating a pick-your-part.
That's the reality for these Flames, finally feeling some good vibes after a blowout victory over their northern rivals but still way too far south in the divisional standings.
Treliving isn't shopping for a missing piece. With his team needing a miraculous turnaround to avoid missing the Stanley Cup playoffs, he's peddling them.
The farewells started with Sunday's late-night announcement that backup netminder David Rittich has been shipped to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a third-round selection in the 2022 NHL draft.
“It sucks. I'll be blunt with it,” Treliving said earlier in the weekend. “Everybody wants to be in a good position at this time, where you can help your team and add to your team. That's what you want at this time. And when you're not in that, it sucks. But you deal with the position you're in and try to make the best decisions you can for the organization.
“Certainly, when you're looking to add people and you're trying to bolster for a playoff run, you enjoy that much more than the alternative. But you have to understand where you are and act accordingly.”
Where the Flames are, even after Saturday's 5-0 shellacking of the visiting Edmonton Oilers, is six points out of the final playoff slot in the NHL'S North Division.
The team they are chasing, the Montreal Canadiens, still has four games in hand. Even with five head-to-head meetings on the upcoming docket, even with the Habs suddenly slumping and a couple of their key contributors out due to injury, it remains far-fetched to think these Flames can win, say, a dozen of their 15 remaining dates.
Remember, the locals are 2-8 in their past 10 outings. If the Canadiens weren't tailspinning at the same time, they'd be written off by now. The calculators at Sportclubstats.com have Calgary's playoff chances pegged at less than one per cent.
Thing is, despite those minuscule mathematical odds of salvaging their season, despite their obvious status as deadline-day sellers, most of the NHL'S ace insiders are expecting that the Flames will be relatively quiet prior to Monday's trade buzzer, with the counter closing at 1 p.m.
That's not because Treliving is satisfied with what he's witnessed from this underachieving bunch. Far from it.
It's not because the general manager, a guy who always seems to have a phone to his ear, isn't itching to impact change.
It's because he doesn't have a lot of what his contending counterparts will be shopping for. He doesn't have any of the marquee names in the rumour mill, the sort of rental assets that could fetch a first-round pick or a top prospect. The return for the 28-year-old Rittich — with a 4-7-1 record, a 2.90 goals-against average and .904 save percentage in 12 starts this season — may prove to be his biggest haul.
Who could be following Big Save Dave to the departures gate?
Derek Ryan, a trustworthy twoway centre and effective penalty-killer, could be a stealthy addition for a playoff squad. He's a right-hander with a high success rate at the faceoff dot, and that alone should generate some interest.
If a rival general manager wants any of the Flames' other pending unrestricted free agents, it shouldn't be too tough to pry away a Josh Leivo or Joakim Nordstrom or Brett Ritchie or Michael Stone. Those are the sort of spare parts that can typically be had for a conditional late-rounder, a pick that would be upgraded based on playoff participation.
Sam Bennett is arguably Calgary's most valuable chip Monday, especially since the 24-year-old thumper has a history of solid spring showings.
It doesn't hurt that the versatile forward is currently riding a four-game point streak but it has been two-plus months since his trade request was made public and the soon-to-be restricted free agent is still on the Flames roster, which suggests that any offers have been underwhelming.
Maybe that changes on a day that contenders can sometimes get a little crazy.
“It's not unlike what you have leading up to any deadline — you've had conversations with teams, so you have a pretty good sense of what teams are looking for or whatever situation you're in, whether you're looking to move players out or add players,” Treliving said before starting his wheeling-and-dealing by sending Rittich to the North Division-leading Leafs for a third-round swing. “At the end of the day, you need a fit where somebody wants to move a player to you or wants to have one of your players. There's a little bit of poker involved. Everybody is trying to a) find a fit and then either get the best price or pay the best price that they can for him. The later it gets towards the deadline, obviously the hours run off the clock and things get a little bit busier, but it's taking and making calls. Nothing is usually a surprise. You've had discussions in the past.
“Again, it's depending on what your situation is. How busy is it going to be for us? I've said this in the past — I don't know. Certainly, there are some things that we'd like to see if we can get done, but you need to have somebody on the line that feels the same way.”
Reading between the lines, it sure seems like Treliving is warning a frustrated fan base to not expect a whole lot of big news Monday.
No matter whether you're ready for a serious pivot on the longrange plan, you don't dismantle a core with a month remaining on the schedule. Those are the sort of swaps that happen in the summer, not when any could-be suitors are hesitant to subtract from their active rosters.
You don't fast-track a rebuild by trading a guy with four goals (Bennett) or four assists (Ryan) so far this season. The same goes for Rittich and his four wins.
Even if the Flames find a landing spot for all three, it will likely be years before the return is ready for big-league duties.
The NHL'S trade deadline, if your team is scouring for that missing piece, is one of the most exciting days on the hockey calendar. Treliving, more often than not, has been among those hopeful shoppers.
The anticipation is not quite the same when you're selling off parts.