Kadri had 75 points last year, why would Calgary trade him for only a 2nd?

This actually makes some sense this trade. It completely clears Calgary of Nazem Kadri’s cap hit. If the goal is to completely strip the team down and rebuild, this is a good trade.

Calgary can use that $7M to take on bad contracts for high draft picks and prospects. They could load up on draft picks like Arizona/Utah did. Utah has 10 2nd round picks in the next three years. Those can be consolidated into first round picks or traded for players.

The most important thing Calgary would gain is cap space which they could weaponize in other ways.

CGY has no reason to trade him they aren't going to compete for a bit
They don't need to be clearing salary and Kadri is a decent C to play with their young wing prospects

Can't really see CGY ownership approving a complete tear down and rebuild

lol please spend that money more intelligently than this don.

That would be the only kicker here. The idea is good in theory, but ownership probably won’t allow it. I do think a complete tear down is necessary in Calgary. Players that have left in the past few years include Hanifin, Zadorov, Tanev, Gaudreau, Tkachuk, Toffoli, Monahan etc.

They may as well fully commit to it, a lot of the really good players they had are gone already.

if i was the GM of a bad team with a guy about to turn 34 with seven years left on his deal, i'd be thrilled to get a trade offer for him.

They certainly should but similarly to the Jacobs family I think CGY's ownership is hyperfixated on revenue

Calgary has 20mil in capspace with only Pelletier, Wolf and Kylington to resign shouldn't take more than 7mil total and Markstrom likely to be traded, leaving them with about 19mil in capspace.

getting a 2nd for Kadri doesn't help them

Calgary is not moving Kadri for only a late 2nd round pick. He'd actually be a really good fit for Boston though, but that offer is brutal!

He's fair value at $7M for the next couple years at least and we still need to hit the cap floor / have good veteran mentors for a rebuilding effort. My guess is he's only moved on the back end of the 5 remaining years on his deal.

Hell no to Kadri but I wouldn't mind seeing Toffoli for a year or two.

Calgary is going to be barely above the cap floor next season. Kadri's cap hit is not remotely an issue, its just his term

My point is that if Calgary waits 2 years to trade Kadri, it could get to the point where they need to give up assets to get someone to take on his contract. Having to give up assets wouldn’t be ideal in a time when they’d be trying to turn the corner competitively

I think retention is an option or a buy-out if he becomes a complete boat anchor those last couple years (he's not bonus based like Huberdeau's deal). It would be a nice problem to have if it only takes Conroy two years to turn this thing around. I'm expecting the Flames will be bad for a couple more years and then having star players on ELC's allows them to pay Kadri $7M to play 3rd line minutes and PP2.

I get your point, that the Flames may want to not have an expensive veteran on the books coming out of a rebuild, and there's a good fit for him in Boston, but the value back isn't there for Calgary with just the 2nd.