CALGARY — A word to the wise if you’re one of those people who think the Calgary Flames should cash in on Jacob Markstrom’s hot hand:
It’s not that simple.
First, the Swedish goalie in complete control of the situation, as his no-trade clause covers this season and the remaining two on his deal.
Nothing happens without his approval.
Second, despite the fact Toronto, New Jersey, Carolina and Los Angeles are a stud goalie away from being top Stanley Cup contenders, it has been made clear amongst NHL general managers that highly paid, proven goalies aren’t as liquid as one would think.
“To be honest, I don’t think people value high-paid goalies right now because of what Vegas did,” said one front office source, pointing to the fact the Golden Knights won the Cup last year using five goalies, four of whom were previously unproven.
Cash-strapped contenders are more apt to try rolling out the Martin Joneses and Nico Dawses of the world to see if they can catch fire, as opposed to shelling out significant assets to find a solution.
The Flames won’t even consider asking Markstrom to waive his no-trade clause before the March 8 trade deadline, unless the package being offered is overwhelming.
The Flames are in a playoff race and certainly not planning to tear the team down to the studs, as some mistakenly believed.
This organization wants to stay competitive, giving its youngsters a positive environment in which to keep growing, while chasing a playoff spot.
Markstrom is the backbone of this team right now, giving the Flames a chance to win every night with a .912 save percentage while sitting top-five in goals saved above expected.
He’s won five of his last six starts and has drastically reduced his goals-against average from the start of the season to 2.59.
The price a team would have to pay for Markstrom would also be steep cap-wise, given Markstrom’s $6-million salary.
Not easy, especially with all four aforementioned organizations, which have no cap space.
If Markstrom’s tenure in Calgary is to eventually end via trade, it’s far more likely to happen in the summer than in the next few months.
The reality is, his value will likely never be higher than it will be in the off-season, when the cap rises and all the contenders that feel they need to add a proven goalie will have more time, cap space and assets to make a deal.
By then maybe Markstrom will want out, and the team could work with him to find a destination he’d approve of.
By summer, the soon-to-be-34-year-old puck-stopper will have seen the extent of the club’s deadline retooling, and whether UFAs Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev and his childhood pal Elias Lindholm remain.
Surely, Markstrom is already bracing for a Lindholm departure, and likely that of at least one of the two reliable defencemen, which might lessen his desire to stay past the summer.
Then again, on a team full of Swedes and several emerging youngsters, there are plenty of reasons to believe Markstrom will remain content in Calgary.
The reason speculation continues to swirl around Markstrom is that the hockey world knows room needs to be made at some point for top goaltending prospect Dustin Wolf.
Flames fans won’t like hearing this, but there’s a good chance the youngster won’t be a full-time NHLer until next season, as trading Dan Vladar is a tough sell, given his stats and his $2.2-million cap hit this year and next.
There’s no market for him right now.
Flames GM Craig Conroy wasn’t happy to have the mere notion of Markstrom trade talk come up during this weekend’s dads trip, on which Markstrom was enjoying time with his brother Tim.
It was the last conversation the GM wanted to have with his goalie, who is quietly having one of the NHL’s biggest bounce-backs after last season’s struggles.
Markstrom is aware people are talking about his future in Calgary, and suffice it to say he knows he’s in full control of the situation.
Conroy could certainly nip all the trade talk in the bud by saying he won’t trade his starter.
However, in a sports world in which everyone has a price tag on them (see Wayne Gretzky trade), management is hesitant to speak in such absolutes.
They’d rather not discuss it at all, publicly, as there’s nothing to it right now.
