The popular opinion seems to be that Jeff Carter is a whiny baby quitter who's injury prone and signed to an awful contract while Rick Nash is an elite player who's worth the world. Nothing could be more wrong.

With both Columbus stars theoretically available at the trade deadline, the talk has shifted from "I'm not sure I'd want Jeff Carter" to "WOWEE DO I SURE WANT RICK NASH", seemingly without regard to actual production and future production. While that reaction shift is certainly entertaining, it's also off base for several reasons: production, contract, "reputation", and value of draft picks.

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In closely watching the trade rumors over the last few weeks the #1 seller has to be the Blue Jackets. Scott Howson is leaking information like a sieve to get his phone ringing. It isn't the usual behind closed doors trade talk that results in that "out of the blue trade" no one saw coming.

With Howson announcing Rick Nash on the block, his phone probably went from deader than a zombie walk to lite up like a Christmas tree at Grand Central Station. He went from little to no interest in Jeff Carter to half the NHL calling him.

My trade deadline radar went off on the public announcement of Rick Nash as available though, is he really?

Navigating blockbuster trades like one including Rick Nash take time. A lot of focus on the details, long term planning of teams is altered, slowly developed strong prospects get considered, long term Cap consequences, many factors and Nash at the end of the day can kibosh it all anyway with his NMC. Are the Jackets a team other buyers want to put time into or would they prefer to focus on the usual tweaks of more depth with other teams?

Howson putting up the public for sale sign on Nash 12 days or so before the deadline doesn't jive. There isn't enough time to get into proper discussion with all the possibly interested teams unless he has already targeted one or two teams for the trade but if so, why leak the information to the press?

Howson is going to potentially get over-run with offers and how can he navigate them all prudently in 12-14 days? Trading the franchise player of your team is not something you want to rush. A Nash deal is much better suited to the off-season.

So why did Howson sound the "For Sale Horn"?

He wants to trade Jeff Carter, he needs to trade Jeff Carter and he can get some calls now that start with a team asking about Nash and deliver a nice slick sales pitch on Carter at the end of it. "Carter has no locker-room attitude, Carter really wants to play for the <insert team name>, he will take you to the Cup and really in terms of contract and cost it isn't that much different from Rick Nash, in fact he is cheaper. Boy do I have a deal for you."

So if you are offering this for Nash how about this for Carter instead… and on it goes. Classic "Bait and Switch" is how you go from the car you want, to that risky lemon on a bargain price.

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With 26 games left on the season, the Calgary Flames remain in striking distance of the higher-ups 8th-place mandate. On Valentine's Day last season the Flames were in 10th spot, just 1 point back of the almighty eighth.

Unlike last season, when the injury bug mounted the team has forged on and seemingly improved upon their systematic approach and - the surprise of all surprises - consistency.

Elliotte Friedman touched on this briefly in point 13 of his 30 Thoughts when he said that Blair Jones maturing into his role with the Flames had a big impact on the team. That may be exactly right. For whatever reason, as the going has continued to get tougher and tougher for this Flames squad, they've maintained their confidence in their game and have knocked off several big dogs in the new year. This is in stark contrast to last year when after Brendan Morrison and David Moss went down, the team seemed to lose their fight that had seen them claw their way as high as 5th in the West.

Even with the injuries and the promotion of Tom Kostopolous to the 2nd line that has everyone wondering WTF, the schedule appears to be on the teams side.

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Today seems like a perfect time to delve into this discussion as Olli Jokinen and his burger-eating, slump-busting self seems to be on the top of the list of everything Calgary Flames right now (honourable mention to the backstop, of course).

Jokinen makes his thoughts of the on-going contract discussions known in an article by Randy Sportak of the Calgary Sun.

"If they decide a deal today, I’m OK. If they decide a deal at the end of June, I’m OK. If they decide a deal July 1, I’m OK. Whatever (the Flames) think is best for them, they will do," he said. "Some guys don’t want to think about a deal, but I’ve been around enough to know my job is to play my best every day. It’s not a distraction to me. For some guys, it could be a distraction, but my main focus is to try to bring it every night."

What about the faction of Flames fans who will insist he be traded should the Flames fall out of the race for 8th? Well, Jokinen addresses that as well.

"I don’t have to worry about it because I have a no-movement clause in my contract."

So, we know he wants to come back and we know the team wants him back as evidenced by the contracts talks, so it's only inevitable that we have a conversation about just how much both sides are asking for in this negotiation. Let's take a look at some of the factors to consider and see if we can't come to a reasonable conclusion.

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Every so often someone writes an article or post that is so completely terrible, awful, and thoroughly bad that it deserves complete and utter derision. Andrew Walker, the Fan 960s morning sports update anchor, has written such a thing.

"Mikael Backlund - So long? Or long term?" takes the ol' college try at evaluating Mikael Backlund and comes up with the conclusion that he's nearly a bust. Yup, the best defensive forward (EDIT: originally said player by accident, clearly didn't mean to) on the Calgary Flames is clearly a bust. But let's break this down in old fashioned FJM style after the jump.

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Jeff Carter is one of the best players available at this years deadline, but who are the teams that will target him?

The rare appearance of a #1 C on the market will have a number of GMs kicking his tires, evaluating a potential fit. The fact that it has been publicly announced is a sign that the usual behind the scenes phone calls did not get the Blue Jackets a satisfactory offer.

So what is the realistic size of the Carter market? Given his contract, his role and long-term planning what is the short list of potential teams that will be willing to pay the highest return to the Jackets?

Read on for a team by team evaluation from the "No-Chance" to the "Probable" for Jeff Carter.

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The Flames have been wheeling and dealing at a rapid rate since 2012 broke, already closing three four trades before February has even hit.

January 6th with Tampa Bay - Blair Jones for Brendan Mikkelson.

January 12th with Montreal - Rene Bourque, Patrick Holland and a 2nd round pick (2013) for Mike Cammalleri, Karri Ramo and a 5th round pick (2012).

January 27th with Chicago - Brendan Morrison for Brian Connelly.

(Update) - January 30th with Winnipeg - John Negrin for Akim Aliu

With public confirmation that Jeff Carter is "100 percent available" it is hard to imagine that Feaster is not at the very least in on the talks. The Flames have probably been in on every single conversation for a #1 C for the last decade. Carter's stock has declined in the last year but he still is fairly seen as a #1 C. TSN via Darren Dreger have also weighed in on the legitimacy of Carter being available.

While some are mystified with the Flames moves, it is those who see trades in terms of black and white. A team can only be a seller or a buyer. Feaster's moves since taking the GM seat have been a combination of both. If one can straddle the two worlds of partial rebuild and moves for the 'now' at the same time the Flames direction has a method.

So can Feaster close a deal for Jeff Carter? Should he? What are the pros and cons of Carter? What will the cost be?

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GOOOOOOOD EVENING.

With Calgary's best player leading goals/game scorer MVP points leader and all-around cool dude Jarome Iginla representing the best Albertan city in Ottawa tonight, I thought an open thread would be warranted.

Just think- Jarome Iginla could be taken first overall- or he could be taken last overall. THE DRAMA. More after the jump.

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