Quoting: Bast
You state speculation as a fact with the first sentence.
As far as we know, Markstrom wasn't asked to waive for other teams, so it's deceptive at best.
Markstrom has been pretty great on the season as a whole. If you want to value him as a .900 goalie, despite the D miscues infront of him, that's fine. That said, the Flames won't trade him for that value, as he's worth a lot more to the Flames, and there's no rush to make a trade.
It was Holtz for Markstrom (~$2 million retained).
It was reported in days that followed by a number of sources.
Elliotte Friedman, after he said the two teams had agreed on a trade, claimed the offer was Alexander Holtz, not Dawson Mercer.
David Pagnotta:
"Separate sources confirmed the Devils would send forward Alexander Holtz back in a trade with between $2 million and $3 million of Markstrom’s of annual cap hit retained." Another: "Calgary and New Jersey had agreed to a deal that would have sent Markstrom to the Devils in a package that included young forward Alexander Holtz. The Flames were set to retain around $2 million to $3 million of Markstrom’s annual cap hit."
Markstrom waived for NJ, as reported by
Steve MacFarland of Hockey News,
Wes Giberton of Calgary Herald and many others.
Frank Seravalli said, "The Devils and Flames were pretty far down the track on the Markstrom deal. It did get to his level to approve it, I think there were no issues there, and I think somehow, somewhere along the way, that trade was scuttled. Don’t know how, don’t know why, but they were pretty close to nailing it down. You would’ve seen Jacob Markstrom become a New Jersey Devil I think at some point last week."
Markstrom blocked a trade to Los Angeles, according to
Nick Kypreos: "Interesting to see that both Jacob Markstrom and Linus Ullmark wouldn’t waive no-trade clauses to join the Los Angeles Kings for their playoff drive. With Markstrom having no interest in being on the West Coast"
Since Trade news broke, Markstrom's play has declined
Before trade news broke...32 games, 2.54 GAA, 0.915 SV%
After news, before TDL........9 games, 2.84 GAA, 0.903 SV%
After Trade Deadline............8 games, 3.55 GAA, 0.870 SV%