The Flames Last Trade with Every Team: Atlantic Division

I’ve decided to look back at all of the Flames most recent trades with every other NHL club, starting today with the Atlantic Division. A couple conditions for this article is that I’ll only be doing the most recent trade that involved an NHLer and/or at least mid round picks. So there aren’t any pick swaps, or late round picks for fringe/AHL players included here.

Boston Bruins

June 26 2015: Flames acquire Dougie Hamilton for 2015 1st Round Pick (Zach Senyshyn), 2015 2nd Round Pick (Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson) , 2015 2nd Round Pick (Jeremy Lauzon)

Trade Winner: Flames

This was a huge add for the Flames at the time as Treliving swooped in and grabbed the pending RFA from Boston. Hamilton would have three really solid years for the Flames, but would be dealt to Carolina in the summer of 2018. The 1st round pick Boston received was part of the infamous package where they could’ve landed Mathew Barzal, Kyle Connor, and Thomas Chabot who were the three picks right after them. Instead the Bruins got Jakub Zboril, Jake Debrusk, and Senyshyn. Debrusk is the only player who has been a regular NHLer since, and nowehere near the star power of the previous three. JFK spent the year in Sweden while Lauzon split the year between the AHL and NHL.

Buffalo Sabres

January 2 2020: Flames acquire a 2020 4th round pick for Michael Frolik

Trade Winner: Flames

The Flames had to clear cap space and the Sabres were looking for forward depth. That’s pretty much all I have to say. I put the edge to the Flames for clearing all of Frolik’s 4.3M cap hit and getting a decent asset in a 4th round pick (I had expected a 6th at best before the deal). Frolik had 4 points in 19 games for Buffalo after the trade.

Detroit Red Wings

June 29 1994: Flames acquire Steve Chiasson for Mike Vernon

Trade Winner: Red Wings

Any trade where you move on from a franchise legend probably isn’t one that you’re going to win. Chiasson would play 127 games with the Flames before being dealt to Hartford. Vernon meanwhile would have three great seasons in Detroit, guiding them to a Presidents Trophy and Cup Final in 94-95, a William M Jennings trophy in 95-96, and a Stanley Cup Championship and Conn Smythe trophy in 96-97 to break the Red Wing curse.

Florida Panthers

February 27 2016: Flames acquire 2016 2nd Round Pick (Tyler Parsons), 2018 4th Round Pick (Demetrious Koumontzis) for Jiri Hudler

Trade Winner: TBD

In retrospect this turned out to be a pretty meh trade for both sides. Hudler would have 11 points in 19 games, and one point in six playoff games before the Panthers were eliminated. Parsons has struggled to develop for the Flames after a successful junior career. Koumontzis had 20 points in 35 games last year in the NCAA, but just 8 points in 25 games this year. If neither prospect pans out, I give the edge to Florida, but if either can develop, I give it to Calgary.

Montreal Canadiens

October 1 2018: Flames acquire Rinat Valiev and Matt Taormina for Brett Kulak

Trade Winner: Canadiens

While I understand why the Flames made the trade, it’s still frustrating to see that they really got nothing for a guy who has been a solid depth piece on Montreal averaging around 17 minutes a game. Taormina was supposed to provide some backend scoring in Stockton, but only had 7 assists in 31 games. Valiev is a long shot prospect who played 49 games in Stockton this year, but doesn’t look to be close to an NHL spot in Calgary.

Ottawa Senators

March 1 2017: Flames acquire Curtis Lazar and Mike Kostka for Jyrki Jokipakka and a 2017 2nd Round Pick (Alex Formenton)

Trade Winner: Senators

Any time you can get a guy who has one assist in 33 games, you gotta do it right. For a 2nd round pick? Gotta do it. Ugh this was a mind-boggling trade from Day 1 as the Flames traded a valuable second round pick for Lazar, who only ended up scoring three goals for the team. I hated it then, and I hate it now. Formenton looks to be a promising prospect after posting 53 points in 61 AHL games at 20 years of age. Sigh.

Tampa Bay Lightning

January 19 1999: Flames acquire Andrei Nazarov for Michael Nylander

Trade Winner: Flames

These two teams have never really made a huge swap, so I’ll go with this trade. I’ll give the Flames the edge in this deal as Nazarov would put up 46 points in 112 games for the Flames while Nylander would skate in just 35 for Tampa, only putting up 12 points. Not too much else to say. Nylander would go on to have a really good career in the NHL, but in the vacuum of this deal, the Flames came out slightly ahead.

Toronto Maple Leafs

September 28 2013: Flames acquire Joe Colborne for a 2014 4th Round Pick (Ville Husso)

Trade Winner: Flames

Hey, a rare trade with the Leafs that the Flames won! I wanted to include the infamous Dion Phaneuf trade on here, but Colborne qualifies as more than a fringe NHLer in my opinion. Colborne would have 103 points in 228 games for the Flames before leaving for the greener pastures in Colorado. Colborne’s best year would be the 2015-16 season where he had 19 goals and 25 assists in 73 games. The Leafs would later trade the pick at the NHL draft to St. Louis for Roman Polak. The Blues would then draft goalie Ville Husso who has been their AHL starter.

The Flames walk out of the Atlantic Division trades with a record of 4-3-1, lucky to finish above .500 in my opinion. There have been some really questionable deals on here, but that’s been the case for almost the entirety of the Flames existence. Next up is the Metropolitan Division!

by Michael MacGillivray