Friedman drops bombshell failed trade between Flames and Devils

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Ryan Hall
February 11, 2024 (4:02 PM)

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This season has been a wild one for the Calgary Flames as this team continues to churn through some of the roughest waters in its history.

It continues to wrestle with the fallout from the loss of their two major superstars two years ago.

With the Flames continually in flux, general manager Craig Conroy is continuously fielding calls from general managers asking about their players and who is available.

During the second intermission of Saturday headlines on hockey night in Canada, Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman explained a bombshell failed trade proposal that happened between the flames and the New Jersey Devils.

The trade revolves around Flames starting goaltender Jacob Markstrom as the Devils continued to seek for a new starting goalie as they feel this is the missing piece for their team.

It would be difficult for the Flames to retain that much salary for Markstrom as he holds a $6 million cap hit along with two more years at that salary.

It would be a tough sell to ownership that they would need to hold on to that much salary depending on the percentage for the next two years following as the team would like to have that cap hit in their favor.

Add in the fact the team is continuously changing and they still would need to go to Markstrom to see if he would approve the deal in the first place as he holds a no move clause, it doesn't surprise me this trade failed to happen, and the Devils will need to continue their search.

The 34 year old has played 32 games for the flames and has a record of 17-13-2 and holds a 2.54 goals against and a .915 save percentage with two shutouts.

Since January 27th he has won four games in a row and his save percentage has been well above .925 during those four games.

If it's true that this trade is dead, this is music to the New York rangers ears as they do not want to face Markstrom with a strong Devils team.